At Dawn
by Razzella
Summary: The Akatsuki are transformed into kittens and are shifted into another world. There Isis, a member of the S-rank criminal group, Dawn, finds them in a box near their base. Suspicious of the supposed box, Isis takes it to the base to present it to her leader, Phoenix. [Akatsuki x OC(s)]
1. Chapter 1

A/N: Upon the [horrific] realization that this story was going to be trashed, I kind of panicked and jumped at the opportunity to adopt it. The lovely authoress agreed and I have spent the past day or so rewriting things and tweaking for the sake of the [new-ish] storyline. The first 5 chapters are taken straight from her original story - with minor tweaks and changes - but everything there after will be original.

Adopted on 4/15/14 from **MaskedBeauty09**.

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AT DAWN

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|| Chapter One ||

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_Naruto_ © Masashi Kishimoto

_Phoenix, Malice, Kai, Zella, Delora, Salem, Kismet, Isis, Kaige, Hades_ © MaskedBeauty09

_Naminé_ © Razzella

* * *

WARNING: Tobi is Madara.

Summary: The Akatsuki are transformed into kittens and are shifted into another world. There Isis, a member of the S-rank criminal group, Dawn, finds them in a box near their base. Suspicious of the supposed box, Isis takes it to the base to present it to her leader, Phoenix. The rest of the members of Dawn are surprised to see that the kittens in the box resemble themselves in appearance. (Akatsuki x OCs)

* * *

"Tobi doesn't mind being a cat! Tobi loves cats!" Tobi cheered, making his tail flick from side to side hurriedly.

Deidara glared at Tobi through his blue irises, "Shut up Tobi, un! This is your fault!"

Tobi pouted, allowing his ears to droop, "Tobi is sorry, senpai! He didn't mean to press the big red button! The big red button made Tobi push it!" Tobi insisted and stepped closer to Deidara.

The blonde kitten continued to glare at the orange faced feline, while another Akatsuki member spoke up. "How the fuck did a button make you press it!?" Hidan yelled from beside his partner, Kakuzu in the box they were in.

His silver fur stood on end as he hissed at the idiotic half-black cat. Tobi shrugged, "Tobi doesn't know!"

Kakuzu sighed heavily, closing his red and green eyes, "I was in the middle of counting my money too..."

"Who the fuck cares about your money!? I was in the middle of a fuckin ritual when we turned into fuckin' cats!" Hidan yelled, glaring at Kakuzu; whose tail flicked threateningly as he returned the gesture.

"You're really loud, yeah!" Deidara shouted towards the two, shoving Tobi away at the same time.

From beside him, Sasori sighed. "You have no room to talk, brat."

Deidara glared at his partner, "Be quiet, un! If we weren't in this damned box I'd show you what true art is!"

Sasori rolled his eyes before boredly replying, "You're not capable of making true art like I am, considering you're delusional and think art is... fleeting." Sasori said in somewhat disgust, not liking the word 'fleeting' coming off his tongue. Deidara hissed at Sasori who just stared at him blankly, knowing Deidara wasn't going to do anything.

In another part of the box, a blue kitten chuckled. "Quite a show is going on, eh, Itachi?" Kisame asked, looking over at his partner. The black kitten merely 'hn'ed; the only other sign of having heard his companion was the slight twitch of his ear. Kisame smiled, shaking his head as he turned back towards the ruckus the others were causing.

The leader of the Akatsuki sighed heavily. The orange kitten then proceed to look up at his noisy members and glare coldly at them. "Everyone, be silent. We have no need to draw any attention to ourselves in this state." the members silenced themselves and continued to listen to their leader speak, "I'm aware we have... changed. I am also aware that the possibility of this being Tobi's fault is very high." Pein then turned his stern expression towards Tobi, "There was a reason I said for no one to enter that room."

Tobi looked down guiltily, "Tobi is sorry."

"Hell you are." Hidan muttered under his breath, earning a strong shove from Kakuzu.

Pein then continued, "Right now, I think it is best that we find a way out of he-" The Akatsuki leader was silenced when the box they were in began shaking and felt like it was being lifted from the ground.

"What the fuck!" Hidan shouted in dismay as he fell over, causing Kakuzu to smirk. Hidan glared at his partner and righted himself, only to yelp as he fell over again.

"What's going on, yeah?" Deidara asked, worried for his well-being.

Sasori looked at his partner, who was wobbling left and right, trying to keep his balance. "We're being moved." He said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Pein looked around, "It appears someone has found us. Just remain calm and try to act as inconspicuous as possible."

"Tobi is scared! How does Tobi be a good boy when he is already one!?" Tobi exclaimed, fear laced into his tone.

"Ugh, just be quiet, un!" Deidara said, already annoyed again.

Before they knew it, they were all forced into the back of the box as if they were running at neck-breaking speed. "The hell!?" Hidan shouted, trying his hardest to lift his head up from all the pressure.

"Ninjas are the only beings capable of this, yet I don't sense any chakra." Itachi spoke.

"Maybe we're in another world? I wouldn't be surprised considering we're cats." Kisame suggested.

Pein nodded, "That may be so. We'll have to find out when we get out of this bo-"

Once again Pein was interrupted. This time is was by the box coming to an abrupt halt, causing the kittens to fly forward, crashing into the other end of the box.

"Ouch! Sasori get you're paw out of my ribs, hm." Deidara breathed, getting back up.

Sasori rolled his brown eyes, "Quiet, brat." The members grew silent when they heard voices coming outside of the box.

"Isis. I assume your mission went well?" A stern female voice asked.

"Hn, I found this box a mile from our base." Another female voice replied.

"Fuck! They speak Uchiha!" Hidan snickered, earning a glare from Itachi. Kakuzu nudged Hidan, causing him to be quiet but not before sending Kakuzu a glare.

The woman who had a stern voice spoke again, "Take the box to the meeting room. Zella, gather all the members into the meeting room."

The kitten's ears perked at a new voice. "Yes, Leader-sama. **Whatever**."

"Another Zetsu, un?" questioned Deidara as he glanced at said Akatsuki member.

Zetsu was grinning, "I like this Zella girl. **Yeah, she's feisty**."

Itachi looked at Pein, "Leader-sama, do you have an idea of who these people are?"

Pein shook his head, "No, but they appear to be an organization like us. We'll have to speak with their leader."

Kisame gave his leader a questioning look, "How will we do that? I mean, we're cats after all."

The Akatsuki leader remained silent, closing his eyes in concentration. His eyes were snapped back open when the box began to move again and more voices were heard from outside of the box.

"Hey, Ice, how'd your mission go?" A new female voice asked the girl dubbed as Isis, who apparently had the nickname Ice. "What's in the box?"

"Hello, Kismet. I found the box outside the base. I fear it may have something to do with _them_. I've had orders from Phoenix-sama to take the box to the meeting room." Isis answered, all in a monotone voice.

"Damn, this bitch's voice sounds dead and what kind of name is Kismet?! It's so fuckin similar to Mr. Mermaid's!" Hidan whispered rather loudly to Kakuzu who just glared at him.

Kisame joined in the glaring, "I happen to like my name, and the name 'Kismet'." Hidan just rolled his eyes and scoffed.

"Hidan. It seems you have to say something every time these women converse." Sasori stated blankly, slight irritation in his tone. Hidan was about to retort when the box they were was dropped onto a hard surface. From the force of the impact, Tobi fell face first into the cardboard bottom of the box.

"Ow! Tobi got hurt! Deidara-sempai help Tobi feel better!" Tobi then proceeded to run towards Deidara, causing him to screech in protest as he was pounced on.

"HEY! GET OFF, UN!" Sasori and Kakuzu couldn't stop an eye roll.

"Tobi, Deidara. Quiet." Pein ordered, successfully silencing them much to the other members' relief. The female voice belonging to the person dubbed as Kismet was heard again.

"Well hurry and open it! I want to see what it is!"

Ripping was heard and the top of the box was slowly opened. All the member's eyes widened as they were greet with a raven-haired beauty, sharingan blazing.

"Itachi, do you know this woman?" Pein asked, looking over at the surprised Uchiha. He shook his head, not look away from the mature looking woman above them.

"Her voice may be dead, but the bitch is hot." Hidan muttered under his breath. A smirked played on his face as he looked over at Itachi, "Hey Itachi, you're fucking twin looks bangable!" Itachi glared over at him, his onyx eyes narrowing as they flashed a familiar red color.

Hidan's face paled and he quickly looked away from Itachi's cold gaze, knowing full well that Itachi would put him under his genjutsu. That didn't stop his last comment though, "Looks like you found your other half, hormonal bitch." Itachi showed no sign of reacting to Hidan's comment, but that mean he wasn't thinking about it. This Isis girl did look like someone he would get along with, but that didn't mean she was trustworthy. She had the sharingan, but as far as he knew, she wasn't an Uchiha. Thinking this, Itachi glared at the girl, suspicion clear in his features.

Isis continued to glare down at the cats, taking them all in.

"Can she stop staring, un? It's starting to creep me out." Deidara said, averting his eyes from hers.

Kismet's voice was heard again, "What is it Ice?"

Isis was silent for a moment before she answered the girl. "Kittens. They're just...kittens." Isis's gaze lingered on one specific cat a little longer before she looked away. That cat being the midnight black one with onyx orbs. What caught her attention was the fact she saw the cat's eyes flash red before returning to their original color just a few moments ago.

"What!?" Kismet exclaimed, pushing Isis out of the way so she could peek into the box. A grin appeared on her face as she looked down at the kittens in the box, "They're cute! Especially that one!" Kismet said pointing at the rather large kitten with blue-grey fur and shark-like eyes. There was also three marks under its eyes that resembled gills.

"FUCK! This one really looks like a mermaid! I found your match Fish-Face!" Hidan said, shocked at Kismet's appearance. The girl had pale blue skin with what looked like to be gills on her neck. The sides of her body, starting from her face to her feet, were covered in scales that were ranging from a variety of different blues and greens. Her long, dark blue hair stopped at the middle of her back, making her yellow slitted eyes pop in contrast.

Kisame couldn't help but grin at the appearance of the girl, not to mention she had just called him 'cute'. Finally, he found someone he wasn't disgusted with his appearance. It was like killing two birds with one stone for him, because the girl had also looked somewhat similar to him in appearance as well. Except as he resembled a shark, she resembled a Blue-Green Damselfish.

"I like her already!" Kisame chuckled.

"Hidan, stop commenting on their appearance." Kakuzu scolded, getting annoyed with Hidan's sudden outbursts.

"Yeah, yeah. You're just being a sourpuss because Uchiha and Fish-Face have found their partner while you're going to rot alone!" Hidan snorted back, pouting like a child.

The kitten's attention returned to the females when the stoic one spoke, "Hn."

"It's odd though, because they each remind me of one of us..." Kismet said, rubbing her chin in thought. The Akatsuki watched as the Isis girl glared at them again before turning her head away. A few seconds later, the Akatsuki heard two new voices. Each voice catching both of the artists' attention.

"Hey Isis, un! Zella said to come to the meeting room. What's going on, yeah?" a female voice spoke, followed by another.

This voice sound more annoyed if anything, but it still held that blank tone. "Quiet down, Dee, you're loud."

Dee didn't sound too pleased to be scolded, "Shut up, Salem! Go screw with your dolls, un!"

Salem's tone grew serious, "Delora. I advise you to shut up before I kill you with my art."

Delora scoffed, "What art, un? Your dolls," Delora stated mockingly, "would only be art if you blew them up."

Salem sighed, "Why would I do something as idiotic as that. Art is eternal."

Immediately, Delora grew defensive, "Fuck you, yeah! Art is fleeting!"

Deidara smirked at the ongoing argument he was hearing, "This Delora chick sure knows what she's talking about, yeah! She sounds cute too, un!"

Sasori rolled his eyes, "If by 'knowing what she's talking about' you mean, she knows nothing, then I'd have to agree. If anyone, the Salem girl is the most intelligent. She knows what true art is. And you only think Delora sounds cute because of that annoying verbal tick."

Deidara frowned, "It's not annoying! It's cute! And Delora is smarter because art is fleeting, un!"

Sasori narrowed his eyes, "Eternal."

"Fleeting, un!"

"E-ternal."

"Art is a BANG, yeah!"

The two artists were forced to stop arguing when a loud explosion was heard, followed by a yell. "DELORA! YOU BETTER NOT BE BLOWING UP STUFF IN THE GODDAMN BASE AGAIN! DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH THIS FURNITURE COSTS!"

Hidan snickered and pawed at his partner, "I take back the thing about you rotting alone!" Kakuzu glared at Hidan, but continued to pay attention to the new voice.

"Shit! Kaige is gonna kill me!" Delora exclaimed as she ran closer to the box, from they could tell. "What's with the box, hm?" she asked, seeming to notice it for the first time.

Salem spoke from beside her, "It's been there since we walked in, idiot."

"Whatever." Delora retorted as she leaned over to get a peek in the box. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of a certain terrorist. "That one looks like me, yeah!" Deidara's eyes widened when his blue eyes met with Delora's. Her blue eyes, went well with her blonde hair that was styled into a half ponytail, with her bangs covering her left eye.

"This girl looks like me, un!" Deidara exclaimed.

Sasori sighed, "We see that, bra-"

Sasori stopped talking when a new face appeared above the box, staring blankly down at the kittens. Her brown eyes locked onto Sasori's, and pieces of her long red hair fell into the box as she leaned over it. She moved them out of the way, revealing her puppet arms.

"That must be Salem, un." Deidara said, gaining Sasori's attention.

Sasori cleared his throat, regaining his composure when a booming voice entered the room. "DELORA! WHERE ARE YOU!?" Whoever it was, they made Delora's face go pale and made her scurry away from the box.

Sighing, Salem walked out of the kitten's peripheral vision as well.

"Where is she?! Where is Delora?! She needs to learn how much it costs to replace the furniture!" the woman who was shouting now stood in front of the box, speaking with Isis and Kismet. Kismet grinned and shrugged while Isis just stared at the older woman, who had a black hood on her head and a black mask covering her mouth. Pieces of dark brown hair weren't covered by the hood, revealing her hair color.

The woman looked down at the kittens with her red and green eyes. She glared down at them, "These better not have cost money."

Kismet giggled,"Nope! They were free! Ice found them. No need to worry, Kaige."

Kaige grunted before turning away from the box. Kismet called after he curiously, "Where are you going?"

Kaige called back, "To go get my sorry excuse of a partner."

Kismet giggled, and a few minutes later Delora and Salem were back in the room. "Is she gone?" Delora asked.

Salem retorted, "Maybe if you'd try to sense her life source then you'd know."

"Leader-sama, **did you hear what the bitch said**?" Zetsu asked.

Pein nodded, "Maybe that acts as their chakra here. That might also be why we can't sense chakra coming from them." The Akatsuki then continued to listen in on what the women were saying.

"Why the fuck do I have to come!? I want to fuckin sleep damn it!" Aloud voice echoed through the base.

This time it was Kakuzu who was nudging Hidan, a smirk on his face, "Soul mates." Hidan glared at his partner, but continued to listen to the infuriated voice of a woman that had somewhat caught his interest.

"Hades, if you don't clean up your blood after your goddamn rituals, it'll stain the floors! And that costs a lot to get fixed!" Kaige retorted back as the two women walked into the room.

"Like I give a fuck! I do the rituals for Jashin-sama!" Hades fussed back.

Now she had Hidan's full attention.

"They know about Jashin-sama here?" he asked, mostly himself.

Kakuzu grunted, "It does have to do with religion, so I'm not surprised."

"Enough with your fictional god and prepare to clean up all the dry blood from the floors!" Kaige said in a stern voice.

Hades' voice grew louder at the mention of her beloved Jashin-sama being fictional, "YOU SHUT TAKE THAT BACK YOU STITCHED BITCH! JASHIN-SAMA IS FUCKIN REAL! I WILL SACRIFICE YOU ASS AND PROVE IT!"

"Hades..." Kaige tested threateningly. But Hades was still yelling.

"JASHIN-SAMA MADE MY IMMORTAL! I CAN DO WHATEVER THE FUCK I WANT, WHEN I WANT! THAT INCLUDES DOING MY RITUALS AND GETTING BLOOD ALL OVER THE DAMN FLOORS!"

"Hades! I have had it up to here with you!" Kaige yelled, sounding like an angry mother.

"FUCK YOU AND YOUR STITCHES!" Hades marched further into the room, and then glanced down at the inside of the box. A smirk appeared on her face, "Hah, look at all the pussy!"

Her joke caused more than one eye roll, that including the members of the Akatsuki. The only person who seemed to find the dirty joke humorous was Hidan, who was chuckling.

Hades rose an eyebrow at the chuckling kitten and smirked at it, "Hey that kitten looks fucking hot! It looks like me, 'cept the damn eyes." Hades looked into Hidan's purple eyes with her red ones. She then looked at his silver fur, secretly comparing it to her own silver hair.

She 'hm'ed before turning away, adjusting her ponytail that kept her hair up.

"Hell yes! Okay, that bitch was mine!" Hidan laughed.

The sound o f chairs being pulled out from under a table was heard as the females sat down in their assigned seats. The room was silent until two more people entered the room. "Good. You're all here." the voice of the leader bounced off the walls of the base, making it known that they were in a cave or something similar.

Phoenix spoke again, "Zella, the box."

"Yes Leader-sama. **You got two feet, use them**. Hey! Be respectful towards Leader-sama! **Shut up**." The Zella girl from before appeared in front of the box and picked it up while looking inside it. She smiled when she spotted a kitten that reminded her of herself. The kitten had her same yellow eyes and it's fur was the same color as her skin. Except while the kitten's whole left side was white, hers was black and its whole right side was black while hers was white. Her green hair bounced lightly as she walked over to her leader.

"She's pretty. Just like I thought she'd be." Zetsu smirked.

Phoenix silently took the box, leaving Zella to sit down in one of the chairs. When the leader of the female organization revealed her appearance, Pein glared at the woman. Her eyes were the eyes of the Rinnegan and she had shoulder length orange hair. Piercings were noticeable on places on her face such is the bridge of her nose, and along her cheeks. Two columns of piercings were seen going down her chest, starting from her collar bones.

Her eyes met with Pein's and an immediate scowl appeared on her face, "Interesting..."

* * *

"What is Leader-sama?" asked Kismet at her Leader's comment.

Phoenix looked back up at the members of Dawn, "Each of you are assigned a cat to watch over until further notice. It does not matter to me which one you choose, but me very wary of them. Understood?"

"Understood." the women said in unison, some less enthusiastic than others.

The Akatsuki turned to Pein at Phoenix's announcement, "What do we do, un?" asked Deidara.

Pein was staring intensely at the so called "Leader" of the group of girls. He slowly turned to the members of Akatsuki, "We will remain undercover as cats. We are not strong in this form and from what we have discovered, we are not aware of our surroundings or this world. It is better not to draw any more attention to ourselves."

The Akatsuki nodded in agreement to Pein's plan, and returned their attention to the girls in the room.

Hades had walked up to the box, her scythe leaning against her shoulder as she peered in it. "Whatever, I just know I got these hot fucker." Hades said, scooping up Hidan. Hidan didn't protest, happy he got with the Jashin-Bitch, as he would call her. Once he was out of the box, and in the crook of her free arm; Hidan got a good look at the place.

The base they were in resembled the Akatsuki base, only the part that they were in a cave though. The room they were in now was bare, and was only furnished with a long table that was lined with chairs, one for each member.

"This place looks fucking boring!" Hidan called to the other members in the box, "Are you sure these people are a threat?"

Pein just nodded, a blank look on his face as he looked towards Hidan. "Looks can be deceiving, Hidan."

Hidan scoffed, "What the fuck ever." Hidan then looked back up Hades, "Let's go bitch." And as if she heard him, Hades cursed at the others members and disappeared down the hall and into her room. Kaige was at the box next; she scooped up Kakuzu, the stitch markings on his fur catching her attention, and stalked off to her room.

"Tobi hasn't seen a pretty lady that looks like Tobi! Is Tobi going to be alone!?" Tobi asked worriedly.

Deidara sighed in relief, "Thank god, I don't think I could handle another Tobi, yeah."

Sasori scoffed, "I wasn't so lucky, there turned out to be another you."

Deidara glared at the red cat, "Shut up, un!" Sasori rolled his eyes, and allowed himself to be picked up by Salem. He glared at her, not liking being held in the first place. Noticing his glare, Salem returned it and walked down a hallway to her room.

Deidara smirked as he watched his partner get carried off by his look-a-like. "I choose that one, yeah!" a voice said, picking up Deidara gently and stroking his fur. At first Deidara hissed at the blonde girl, but then he felt the lovely sensation of being stroked, and allowed her to carry him to her room.

"Kismet, Isis. Hurry and pick yours." Phoenix said. The two partners nodded and selected the kitten that interested them most and then walked back to their rooms. Isis, cradling Itachi while Kismet held Kisame.

All that was left was Zetsu, Pein and Tobi.

"Shit. We're going to be stuck with Tobi, we guess." Both Zetsus sighed.

"I'm guessing you want me to take the hyper one as well?" questioned Zella as she looked at her leader.

Phoenix nodded, "Yes, I will be taking the last one."

Zella nodded, "Understood. **Well this fucking sucks. Its bad enough we got one cat, but now we have another one to take care of?** You'll just have to deal with it; I am.** Fuck you.**"

"**Heh, her attitude is alluring**. I think it's kind of rude. **Who asked you**?!" Zetsu conversed with himself. Tobi watched, mesmerized as Pein sighed. Soon, Tobi and Zetsu were being lifted and taken away with Zella as she phased through the wall to get to her room.

Now it was just him, and her.

Pein watched immensely as Phoenix walked back to the box and lifted him from it. She held him in front of her face and narrowed her eyes. "I don't know why you and your friends look like me and my members, but I assure you I have no qualms with killing animals; especially if they're risking my member's lives."

Pein glared back at the ginger woman and hissed, "As do I to humans."

* * *

Phoenix narrowed her eyes more as the kitten in her hands hissed at her, as if sensing that she just threatened him. She grunted and turned around, walking through the only door in the room that led to a hallway. Walking through the base, the kitten in her arms studied his surroundings. It was almost like he was making a map of the Dawn base in his head.

Turning another corner, Phoenix reached her room.

The girl's rooms were identified by a painting on the wall where there door was supposed to be. Phoenix bit her thumb and made a marking on the wall under the painting, making the wall shake before sliding open and revealing her room/office.

Phoenix placed the orange kitten on the double-bed in her room before taking a seat at her desk and going through papers that had possible missions she could send the other girls out on. She looked up however, when she felt a tug on her pants. Looking down at her feet, Phoenix saw the orange kitten looking up at her.

To confirm it was the same kitten, Phoenix looked back at her bed to see that the orange kitten wasn't there anymore. She sighed, and picked the kitten up before putting it in her lap.

"Cats..." she muttered to herself, returning to her paperwork.

* * *

Pein looked up at the desk from where he was in Phoenix's lap and made to jump on it. He crouched slightly in his form and hopped up onto the desk, landing right on the paper Phoenix was looking at. He turned to look at her, seeing that she was glaring at him.

"I might just name you something degrading..." she said darkly.

Pein returned her glare, and moved off of the paper he was on. He moved to an unoccupied part of the desk and began to study the content on papers.

'So they're a criminal organization...by the name of "Dawn"...' Pein thought to himself after seeing this bit of information on one of the many papers. 'We'll have to be extremely careful then...we have no idea how powerful these women are.'

"Hey." Pein heard the woman call. He looked up into her familiar looking eyes. "You're name..."

Pein narrowed his eyes, not liking what was about to happen. He didn't like being named, as if he was some pet of some sort. He looked back up at the woman when she continued speaking, "I'm not going to name you. After all, you could be working with the enemy...currently you are nothing but a mere prisoner in my eyes."

"I am no prisoner." Pein growled, "It will be you who will be the prisoner once I return to my normal form."

Phoenix raised an eyebrow at Pein, obviously not understanding a word he spoke. How could she? He was only a cat. The female ginger returned her attention to the paperwork in front of her, ignoring Pein's presence.

He scowled at the girl before looking at some of the other papers. So far, all he discovered from the papers were that they were in some kind of different ninja world. By the time he figured that much out, Phoenix was standing up from her chair and moving towards the light source of the room, a lamp. He locked eyes with her as she turned it off.

In the darkness, Pein heard footsteps before he was lifted up by the girl's warm hands. "You will sleep here." he heard her say as he was placed on a soft surface, much as he was when she first walked into the room.

"Do not bother me. I have no qualms with kicking you off of this bed." she said sternly before shuffling with her clothing and then climbing under the covers. Pein sighed to himself as he moved around the bed in the dark to find a comfortable spot to settle down on. He soon found it beside the girl's head, on her pillow.

Soon, the only sound in the room was the calming melody of their breathing.


	2. Chapter 2

Adopted on 4/15/14 from **MaskedBeauty09**.

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AT DAWN

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|| Chapter Two ||

* * *

_Naruto_ © Masashi Kishimoto

_Phoenix, Malice, Kai, Zella, Delora, Salem, Kismet, Isis, Kaige, Hades_ © MaskedBeauty09

_Naminé_ © Razzella

* * *

Isis kept the supposed kitten close to her as she walked through halls of the Dawn base. She would glance down at the black kitten every time she felt it move. It was most likely taking in its surroundings.

After turning one last corner, Isis arrived at the painting that marked her room before biting her finger and writing a code in blood underneath it.

The kitten was watching Isis' actions intensely, somewhat to the point that it irritated her. She would never express or voice that though.

Walking into her room, Isis placed the kitten on her bed and silently pointed at him before saying, "Hitori." When the young feline made no move in response, the raven haired woman continued, "Your name will be Hitori for the time being."

As if the kitten knew exactly what his name meant, he glared at the woman. Isis, who didn't take kindly to the glaring, glared back. She was standing at the foot of her bed, looking down at a kitten that just happened to know how to glare. Nothing strange at all.

Both of them refused to look away, causing them each to glare harder in hopes the other would give in and look away. To no avail, the two looked away at the same time; declaring it a draw inwardly to themselves.

Isis then left the kitty to its own devices and walked to the bookshelf that was beside her bed. The twenty-one year old woman scowled when she felt Hitori's stare. Deciding to ignore it, she continued to look for the books she needed to research in hopes of finding anything that would have to do with oddly colored cats.

After grabbing a book with the world's history, Isis settled herself on her bed. Hitori had noticed the books and curiously walked over to where she was on the bed. He sat beside her on his haunches, reading along with her as she skimmed through the pages of the books.

* * *

Itachi discovered he didn't like this woman. Yes, he didn't really like her before and he saw her as an enemy, but now his dislike towards her was multiplied.

He didn't like the fact that he could sense her chakra, or that she shared his kekkei genkai. For all he knew though, his sharingan was just a jutsu in this world that few could master.

Right now, the woman called Isis was poking at her books. She had paused at first, obviously feeling Itachi's intense stare burning a hole through her back. Itachi scowled when she simply ignored him, noting that that was something he would most likely do.

Itachi continued to watch as Isis walked back to the bed with two books in her hands. She sat on the other side of the bed; which was away from him because he was at the foot of the bed.

'I might be able to find some information in those books...' Itachi thought to himself as he walked over to where Isis was on the bed. He sat beside her and began to read the pages quickly before she turned the page. From what he could tell, it was a history book.

So far Itachi was able to gain a little information about the world he and the rest of the Akatsuki had landed in.

He learned that this world consisted of 5 great lands. They were named Inazuma, Taiki, Mizu, Chikyū, and Kasai. Each land majored on a certain element. Inazuma: Lightning. Taiki: Air. Mizu: Water. Chikyū: Earth and Kasai: Fire.

Not only did they have a major element, but they all have a Watcher which is basically a Kage. The Watcher is stationed in the land's capital which is also where all the ninja academies are.

Inazuma's Watcher is a man named Raijin Den. He is stationed in the capital, Rai. Taiki's capital is the city, Aeras. The Watcher is a woman named Hera Juno. The land of Mizu is ruled by the Watcher, Suijin Jimmu. He is in the land's capital named Yomi. Chikyū's Watcher is a young woman named Gaia Doric. The capital of the land is the city, Terra. Then the land of Kasai is ruled by the man Vulcan Titus. The capital of Kasai is the city, Varro.

The capital cities are the home of the Watchers and are also where Ninja are trained. Apparently in this world, all ninjas are raised to learn their land's element. They can use another land's element, but it will be extremely difficult to master as the ninja wasn't trained to learn that element.

What really interested Itachi was when he learned about the people's "chakra". Here, they called it "Life Source". It was exactly the same as chakra, but with just a different name.

Itachi watched as Isis closed the book silently, a scowl on her face. She had obviously failed to find what she was looking for. Instead of putting the book away, Isis stood from her bed and walked to one of the paintings in her room. Itachi watched as she did the exact same thing she did to open the door to her room. The wall where the painting was moved away, revealing a room full of scrolls.

Itachi ears unconsciously perked as Isis retrieved some of the scrolls before walking back to the bed. She laid the scrolls down in front of her. glaring at Itachi when she noticed him staring at the rolled up parchments.

Isis began to unroll a scroll and Itachi began to lean in, ready to read whatever valuable information this scroll held.

However, Isis stopped short right at the title of the scroll which was "Dawn Members".

She then turned to Itachi a blank expression on her face as she talked in that "dead" voice as Hidan had called it. "Hitori, do you really expect me to read valuable information right beside you. I'm sure you're smarter than that. I only read through that old history book because there wasn't much you could gain from that." A sly smirk had made it on her face but quickly turned into a glare as she noticed Itachi's glare.

Her face may have held a glare but she continued to speak blankly. "Good night Hitori." With that the scrolls that had once been on her bed had 'poofed' and returned into their rightful places in the hidden room. The door promptly closed, and then Itachi found himself being placed at the end of Isis' bed.

With a few hand sign's from Isis, the room was enveloped in darkness, with the exception of Itachi's now glowing red eyes.

* * *

Kismet smiled the whole way to her room. The kitten in her arms also seemed content, not even trying to escape from her grasp.

She ignored how the blue-furred kitten tensed upon opening the secret door to her room, and gently placed him on her bed.

The kitten seemed to like her room, seeing as he purred in content as he snuggled up to one of her shark stuffed animals. "You like my room?" she asked, smiling at the kitten with her pearly white teeth.

In an answer the kitten nuzzled further into her blue bed sheets, most likely enjoying the fishy smell they gave off.

Kismet's gills moved as she sniffed in the salty air that only resided in her room thanks to well crafted incense made by Salem. Kismet may not be close to the puppet girl, but if you asked her nice enough to do something, she would most likely do it.

Kismet sat on her bed as she removed her sandals, freeing her flipper like feet. The girl was self conscious about herself; that was a known fact. Here at the Dawn organization, she didn't have to worry about fretting over her odd appearance that most people would fear or mock her for having.

As she lay back on her bed, the small kitten slowly made his way towards her. Seeing as her face was the closest to him, he stopped there and pawed at her. The girl's golden slit eyes closed at the feel of the animals soft pads lightly hitting her scales that only appeared on the side of her body.

She giggled and flipped over on her stomach so she could peer into the kittens yellow eyes. Eyes that reminded her of herself. "That tickles you know." she smiled, lightly poking the kitten's dark blue nose.

Oddly enough, almost every feature on the kitten was blue with the exception of his calming yellow eyes. Kismet stared into said eyes, and kitten stared right back, not even flinching away like most animals would at the sight of her. She smiled and began to pet the kitten, "You're really beautiful, huh?"

She smiled kindly and was sure that if the kitten had been a man, he would have blushed.

* * *

Kisame liked the girl he was assigned to watch already. How could he not like a girl with excellent taste and a unique appearance? He knew that watching out for anything suspicious would be fun around her.

When she had placed him on her bed, he immediately spotted a pillow in the shape of a shark. He ran over to it and tried to express his love for his kind, hoping the girl would see this and name him something shark related instead of stupid name.

Instead of naming him like he thought she would, she simply fell back on her head, probably exhausted from tasks she probably preformed earlier that day. Although he was relieved she wasn't naming him, he knew that she'd come to her senses sooner or later.

Watching her, his eyes lingered across her features, stopping on the exquisite scales on the side of her face. He slowly walked over to her, lifted his paw to touch it. The pad of his paw must have felt weird on her scales because she laughed before flipping over to look at him.'

Soon, he found himself gazing into her eyes, and she began to pet him. The woman even called him beautiful. An insult to a man, but coming from her Kisame seemed to accept it. After all he had never been called anything short of a monster.

He was glad that he was in a feline form because he most definitely would have blushed if permitted. Instead though he simply adverted his eyes and turned back to the shark pillow so he could rest.

He didn't care about his mission to gather information right now. He just wanted to sleep and was positive that Itachi would get whatever was needed to report back to Leader.

The woman pouted at him and couldn't help but find her cute; her fish-like features only adding to that.

Although she appeared innocent, and oblivious to the dangers around her, Kisame knew better. The girl may be sweet and have a nice personality, but she was in an S-Rank organization by the looks of it.

Kismet was lethal. And he had to be wary of that fact, just like she should be wary of him.

He may come in the form of a cute, helpless kitty, but he was anything but that. He was actually a grown man; an S-Rank criminal of his own league. Back in his universe, he was feared and known across the lands. There was no way he would give the girl mercy if she appeared to be a danger to him, but that didn't mean he wouldn't enjoy her company when he had it.

The girl's content sigh made him crack an eye open. She had taken off her armor by the looks of it and was now going to change into her night clothes.

Being the gentleman he was, Kisame looked away, not ready to be labeled a pervert or peeping tom.

Still, he couldn't resist the smirk on his face as he felt the girl's warmth from beside him. She had changed and was now under her covers, readying herself for sleep as well.

He cuddled into her side, relishing in the coolness of her scales as he drifted off to sleep from beside her.

He couldn't help but wonder how the rest of the Akatsuki were fairing. All he knew right now though, was that he certainly could get used to being a cat for the time being.

Especially if feeling this warmth every night was part of the package.

* * *

"**I wish she would hurry up. We've been walking through these corridors for an hour now**." Black Zetsu complained scowling up at the two toned girl that was carrying him and Tobi.

White Zetsu sighed, "I think you're exaggerating a bit. It's only been around thirty minutes."

"**Whatever. I'm not comfortable being carried like this**." As if to prove his point he squirmed in Zella's arms making her look down at him.

"**Stop squirming before I eat you**." The black side of her warned, glaring at both of the oddly colored kittens in her arms.

Tobi pouted at her, "But Tobi didn't do anything! Tobi is a good boy!" The orange faced kitten looked over to his companion, "Right, Zetsu?"

Zetsu nodded at the chipper half black kitten to the side of him, "Of course."

Tobi cheered happily to what must have sounded like meowing to Zella. The two kittens heard her sigh heavily as she made a hidden door in the wall open.

"I know they're annoying but just deal with them for a little while longer." her white side tried to reason.

"**Easy for you to say. You're always so optimistic. If we weren't attached I would have killed you by now**." Black Zella growled, tossing Zetsu and Tobi onto the floor of her room. The landing was soft for them, as Zella lived in what was equivalent to a greenhouse, so they landed on top of grass.

"You're not being very nice." White Zella scolded, picking up a watering can. Zetsu and Tobi silently watched Zella argue with herself as she walked around her room, watering the plants.

"Is Zella talking to herself? Is Zella like Zetsu?" Tobi asked the questioned kitten.

Zetsu shrugged while sitting on his haunches, "By the looks of it, yes. **And it is very entertaining**. **I wonder if this is what we are to others**."

White Zetsu scowled, "Hardly. I bet it's just as annoying. Not to mention you and Black Zella have terrible personalities.

"**You would know, huh**? Actually yes, I would." Black Zetsu rolled his eyes at his other half. "**Where did that idiot go**?" he asked, looking around the room for Tobi.

"**YOU DAMN CAT! DON'T MESS WITH MY FERTILIZER**!" Black Zella yelled from the other side of the room.

Zetsu began to make his way towards the voice, pushing past overgrown stems and fallen leaves. "I wonder what he did now**... Isn't it obvious? She just yelled out loud that he was messing with her fertilizer**." Zetsu didn't say anything else as he jumped over a fallen pot, taking notice to the cat footprints that led away from it.

Zetsu followed Tobi's paw prints all the way to where he was probably being mauled by Zella.

Sure enough when he got there, Tobi was dodging vines that were protruding from Zella's arms. A glare was on her face as she swatted at Tobi. "Fucking cat!" Oh dear, the nicer side of her was even mad. Tobi was in trouble now.

Instead of helping, Zetsu just sat back and watched from a safe distance. He was actually enjoying this. He had never seen something like this before and he was probably going to try it once he returned to his normal form.

"Tobi is sorry! He didn't mean to knock it over and kill the plants!" Tobi pleaded, his tail between his legs as he began to run away and into another direction of the plant infested room.

As soon as he disappeared, the vines retreated back into Zella's body and she slumped forward, sighing tiredly. "**I hate cats**. I think they're cute! Just not when they're ruining my babies**! Whatever, let's just try and revive what we can**."

Saying this, Zella kneeled down next to a small patch of wilted flowers. Next to it was a sack that was knocked over. Spilling out of it was enhanced fertilizer.

That must have been what Tobi knocked over, Zetsu mused. Giving the plants too much fertilizer would kill them, and enhanced fertilizer increased the speed of such a tragedy.

Zetsu slowly made his way closer, curious to see just how Zella was planning to revive her plants.

In his world he just used a simple jutsu to bring the plants he neglected back to life, but usually that wasn't the case. Usually it was because of one of the other member's carelessness. So he was quite curious to see how "reviving plants" worked in this world.

Instead of hand signs, Zella simply stared intently at the plants and mumbled words that seemed to be from another language. Her eyes closed as she lifted her hands over the wilted plants.

"Hm, interesting." Zetsu said once Zella's hands started to glow green, much like when a medic-nin was healing a wound. "**Really confusing too.** **What was she saying? I couldn't understand a word**." White Zetsu shrugged, "Don't know. **Of course you don't**."

"**What are you looking at**?" Zella asked, scowling at Zetsu and interrupting his conversation with himself. "Aw, be nice to this one. He didn't do anything! **Yet.**" Despite her other half's protest, Zella slinked her way over to where Zetsu was partially hidden and scooped him up on her arms.

She smiled down at him and nuzzled her cheek to his. "Cute. Annoying." Zetsu muttered when Zella moved her face away and opted for putting him on her head.

"Stay put, okay! **Or fall to your death. I don't care**." Zella then continued to care for her plants with Zetsu lounging on her head. Later he would have to look for Tobi. With his luck Tobi probably got caught by a kitten-eating plant or something of the sort. He didn't know what kind of plants there were in this world so it was a possibility. However, so far the plants of this world were the same as the ones in his world.

Apparently Zella had made it to a wall in her room. On the wall were windows, surprisingly enough. Weren't they underground? Before he could delve deeper into his thoughts, Zella began to mutter words in a different language again as she stared intently at the windows you could see nothing but rock through.

She raised her hand so it was hovering against one of the windows and kept her eyes open as her hands glowed green again. In a split second, sunlight was suddenly shining through the windows, engulfing the room in light. Zella smiled and walked to any lamps that were on to turn them off.

Zetsu was positive that he needed to learn that trick. It was so much easier than having a billion lights lit up to help his plants. Kakuzu would probably like the idea too, considering having so many lights raised the electric bill by a lot.

Zetsu squirmed a little when Zella picked him up again, only to toss him on the ground a second later. "Go join your friend. **Where ever the hell that might be**. Night!"

Instead of finding Tobi right away, Zetsu hindered around Zella a little while longer, wanting to see what she was going to do.

Above her was what looked to be a sprinkler and she had moved to stand in a box of soil. She had moved her long, green hair to one side as she grabbed a tube that was connected to the sprinkler and shoved it in her neck. Zetsu inwardly cringed at that, not liking how she just stabbed herself in the back of her neck with a tube. To top it off the tube didn't even have a dull edge and she wasn't even bleeding! He had yet to find out why.

He continued to watch as Zella began to speak in a different language again. This time her hands were lifted above her head and positioned beneath the sprinkler. Her eyes were closed in concentration as her hands began to glow again.

A few seconds later, water was coming of the sprinkler and running down the tube and into Zella. Her hands fell limply to her side and her shoulders slumped. If that wasn't proof enough that she was asleep, it was her breathing that gave it away.

Perhaps she was part plant. That was the most reasonable explanation for this.

"**That's weird**. Do we really have any room to talk? **Guess not**." Zetsu then went off to search for his partner, not sure if he really wanted to waste his energy just to do that. Knowing Tobi, he would be back soon. He'd come back mostly to apologize and beg to be called a good boy, just to confirm that he was indeed a good boy.

Deciding this, Zetsu walked around the room in search of warm spot to sleep at. He soon found it beside a large potted plant that also provided shade.

Happy with the find, Zetsu curled his kitten form in the shade of the plant and went to sleep. He was still curious about this world and especially about Zella. He was also interested in how jutsus worked here, which was what he dubbed Zella's little performance earlier when she brought the plants back to full health and then made sunlight shine through an underground base. Not to mention the fact she is sleeping while standing in soil with a tube in her neck that has water flowing through it.

Yeah, he would be stupid not to be curious.


	3. Chapter 3

Adopted on 4/15/14 from **MaskedBeauty09**.

* * *

AT DAWN

* * *

|| Chapter Three ||

* * *

_Naruto_ © Masashi Kishimoto

_Phoenix, Malice, Kai, Zella, Delora, Salem, Kismet, Isis, Kaige, Hades_ © MaskedBeauty09

_Naminé_ © Razzella

* * *

"Go away." Salem spoke to the red furred kitten that kept getting on her workbench.

The kitten ignored her order and continued to walk around the table, looking at all the tools she kept there.

"Go away." she repeated, this time swiping at the kitten. Not managing to hit him, because he kept jumping out of the way, as if dodging her hand.

Salem narrowed her eyes when the cat sat down on one of the puppets she was currently working on.

It was small, like normal puppets, but it was anything but normal. With the help from Delora, Salem was going to make the puppet become a bomb. Yes, it went against her standards on art but this for the battle field only.

"I told you to go away." Salem said, her voice cold and icy as she picked up the brown eyed kitten from the scruff of his neck. She held him in front of her face and he just looked at her blankly. "Stupid cat." she said dully, tossing the feline over her shoulder and onto her bed.

A hiss came from behind her in which she promptly ignored it, continuing on her puppet-bomb.

From her bed the kitten-turned Sasori cursed at the back of the woman's head. He hated this form, and right when he turned back he would change that red headed woman into a puppet.

He didn't find anything interesting on her workbench, and all the tools they used here were the exact same ones he used himself.

Sasori continued to watch Salem work, wondering why the puppet she was making was so small. He had thought that she was just like him when it came to the puppet-making department. Especially since she was arguing with Delora when he had first met her.

His tail flicked back-n-forth annoyingly as he scowled at the red headed female. Much to his annoyance he couldn't really see how she was making her puppet, because her body was in the way.

Sasori unconsciously stretched his limbs before he jumped from Salem's bed. He silently walked towards her, using his ninja stealth that he could still use thanks to the soft pads on his paws.

Salem had heard him approaching, as she had stopped working and was now scowling at the stone wall in front of her. Sasori rolled his eyes, ignoring her annoyance as he jumped in her lap, making himself comfortable much like a real cat would.

"Stupid cat..." he heard her mutter under her breath before she began to tighten the screws on the joints of the puppet.

It looked like something you would buy for a child. If he had to guess he would say that Salem was probably using it to deceive her opponents into thinking it was harmless. Flipping her creation over so it was on its stomach, Salem opened the hidden latch on its back. The latch would be where Delora's bomb would go, but right now she had to make sure everything was stable.

"Perfect." she said lowly to herself, as she moved the arms on the puppet with her fingers.

Sasori watched as she did so, wondering how she was doing it exactly. He couldn't see any chakra strings, and she hadn't performed any hand signs so it wasn't a jutsu. It was almost as if some invisible force was helping her move the puppet, but he didn't really consider that possible.

Salem on the other hand, knew exactly what she was doing. She had placed some of her life source into the puppet when she made it, so in order to control she just had to think about it and move her fingers as if she was using strings.

A great battle tactic in her opinion, and it could only be performed by S-Rank puppet masters such as herself. As Sasori sat in Salem's lap, continuing to watch her test out her puppet, he began to feel things he hadn't experienced in so long

He felt...hungry.

He felt...tired.

Had the emergency jutsu Pein had prepared caused him to return to his human self? Or was it this world? Or maybe it was just because he was a cat...

Before Sasori could delve deeper into this wonders, the former resident of Suna fell asleep for the first time in years. And in a woman's lap at that.

* * *

Delora giggled as she watched the blonde kitten in front of her. He seemed to like the Pop Its she had made. All you did was through the penny-sized item on the ground and popped with a spark.

Currently she was sitting on the floor at the edge of her bed, throwing said Pop Its on the ground for the kitten to enjoy. "You like these, yeah?" she asked, hearing him contently purr.

"I bet you'll love these even more." The blonde woman said, standing up to go to her cabinet that was full of her creations. She pulled out a small box that held thin sticks. "These are Sparklers, un."

Deidara watched Delora, not too sure on this whole "sparkle" thing, but if it was something she made it just had to be interesting. He already enjoyed those Pop It things so most likely he would enjoy the "sparkle" ones.

"Ready?" Delora asked, still standing above him. She took his silence as a 'Yes' and blew onto the thin stick.

Deidara watched in amazement as she blew what looked to be blue fire out of her mouth and onto the stick. The stick then lit up, sparks flying off of it. Delora began to laugh as she waved it around. Deidara was enjoying watching the sparks fly. It was even amazing that it looked as if the girl was drawing in the air with it.

All too soon, the sparks disappeared and Delora was back on the floor beside him, "I need to figure out a way to make them last longer, yeah."

Still looking at where the sparks used to be, Deidara nodded with his kitty-head. Delora giggled again, picking him up. "Ah, you're so cute, un!"

The male bomber's eyes widened when Delora pressed her nose to his. He most certainly wasn't used to this kind of contact so he froze.

His reaction made Delora smirk, "You a virgin, un?"

This only made Deidara blush in embarrassment and anger. He hissed at Delora and if he wasn't a kitten she would have heard him curse profanities at her. He was just starting to like her too. The female bomber only laughed when he hissed at her, putting him back down on the floor in front of her.

"Don't worry, cute kitties get some, un." Deidara stopped hissing at her, frowning when he blushed again. If he wasn't a cat then his blush would've shown.

Delora began to pet the blonde kitten as she leaned against her bed, tilting her head back. "Tomorrow I'll show you some cooler stuff, yeah?" She looked at him for an answer to which he nuzzled her hand.

"Sweet! Now let's go to bed!" Delora picked him, hopping onto her bed before she placed him beside her. "It'd be a shame if you were really an enemy. Then I'd have to kill you, yeah." She pouted, rubbing behind Deidara's as she fell asleep.

Deidara couldn't help but think how much it was going to suck when he transformed back.

* * *

Instead of going straight to her room, Kaige decided to make a visit to her financial office. She had to finish counting to the group's money; she would have been finished earlier if it hadn't been for that emergency meeting.

"Irritating..." she mumbled, sneering at the odd looking kitten in her grasp. It was no secret that Kaige hated animals, especially small ones like kittens. They always were the cause of her wallet getting lighter and that was never a pleasant feeling to her.

Kakuzu heard her mumblings, giving her a cold glare even though it was missed while in his kitty form. 'I'm not particularly enjoying your company either.'

The stitched kitty wasn't exactly happy. He could be happily counting his money at the base right note but instead that stupid masked idiot triggered Pein's emergency jutsu, causing the unknown to transport them in a different place with new appearances.

They weren't expecting to be placed in another world as kittens, that was for sure.

Kakuzu returned his eyes to the pathway in front of him, trying to figure out where this woman was taking him. He knew it wasn't her room as she had muttered something about not being able to have time to sleep.

The stitched man then remembered her outburst she had shouted earlier about something being expensive. He wondered if she shared the same views as him when it came to money. A cheap woman was a great woman in his opinion.

And if they could cook it was even better.

Unfortunately for him though, Kaige hated cooking just as much as she hated cleaning. She always says such tasks are a waste of time and time is money. If it wasn't for Kismet her room and most likely the base would be a pig sty and without Salem they would all starve. Which was pretty ironic because Salem couldn't even eat but yet she could cook like

Kaige sighed as she entered her small office, shutting the door behind her. "Bliss." she stated, dropping the kitten in her hands on the couch the room. "Don't you destroy that. It cost more than I would have liked to hand over."

The woman removed the mask that cover half of her face, not seeing the point in wearing it when she was in the privacy of her office. The brunette didn't even care if the kitten that was sitting on her couch could be an enemy in disguise. Such silly thoughts didn't even cross her mind because something like that wasn't plausible in her opinion.

Besides, if there was a way to transform yourself into a harmless creature like a kitten, she was sure Phoenix or Isis would have discovered it by now.

While Kaige sat in the chair at her desk, Kakuzu watched, surprised at what was revealed to him. He had seen the stitches on her arms but he didn't know they were on her face like his. He wondered how she came to look like that; after all this was a whole different world. For all he knew it could be a natural thing to be born with stitches littered across your body.

But then he noticed something far more interesting; something that made his eyes sparkle.

Money.

It was scattered across the woman's desk, taking up any needed free space. There were coins and then there were dollar bills. It was all organized, something he liked. In Kaige's mind, money was the only thing that she took good care of. She couldn't give a rat's ass about anything else being as organized as her gold mine.

Kakuzu's ears perked when he hear small clatter erupt in the room. His multi-colored eyes widened as he watched the coins roll across the room's floor. He wondered how many he could gather before she caught him, but then again: Where would he put them? But it wasn't like he cared about that one question at the moment.

"Damn it." Kaige cursed to herself, standing from her chair to collect the stack of coins that had fallen to the stone floor. She stopped and glared at the kitten that was no longer on the couch. Instead he was sniffing at one of her coins and pawing at it.

If Kaige was anyone else she would have just written the behavior off as the kitten just playing but she wasn't anyone else; she was Kaige of Mizu, the land of water.

"You better get the fuck away from that."

Kakuzu stopped trying to pick up the coin, but he wasn't making progress anyway so it didn't affect anything. He looked up, expecting to see the same colored eyes as his own only to find that Kaige was staring coldly at him, her whole eye glowing a furious red. Her stitches on the corners of her mouth were undone, as well as the ones on her arms.

Long, black strings were swirling menacingly in the air around her, waiting to strike him if needed. Her jaw was no longer attached to her head, allowing more of the strings to come out of where the lower part of her mouth should have been.

To sum it up, she was a sight to see. Not nearly what Kakuzu had been expecting. No. She was much scarier and you could now see why she was an S-Rank criminal and feared by most. Best believe Kakuzu backed away from her money. Not because he was scared, but more along the lines that he didn't want to die. He couldn't do much to defend himself in this form.

If he was still a human, he probably would have fought Kaige to the death to get that one, single coin.

Once Kaige thought the kitten was a safe distance away from all of her scattered coins, she returned to her normal form; the black strings receded back into the stitches that were across her body and her eyes returned to their normal color.

"Good." she praised the kitten, not really putting sincerity into it. She kneeled down, beginning to pick up the loose change, cursing under her breathe on how much of mess it was. There was no one in the room to help her so it was a surprise to her when a coin was suddenly nudged against her hand.

The woman looked to who pushed the coin to the hand that was resting on the floor. Instead of a person, it was the kitten she had just thought to have scared away.

Kakuzu glared at the woman, ignoring the confusion that was on her face. Wasn't it natural to not want precious things such as money to be all over the floor, free for the wrong hands to steal?

He just wanted her to pick the damn treasures up, and the faster the better which is why he decided to help her out.

Kaige stared at him a little longer before continuing to pick up the coins, "You're' not useless at least." she snorted lowly.

Kakuzu probably would've have beheaded her like he did with all his previous partners that were stupid enough to sass him if he wasn't a kitten.

He'd probably change his mind about that in the future.

* * *

Hades was... a unique girl you could say. She was stuck in the age of twenty-two due to her immortality that she gained from her god, Jashin. No one knew what Hades' true name was, they just knew she was very intelligent when it came to big events that happened in past history.

The woman's eyes were a blazing red, which some mistaken it for the sharingan that Isis has. Her silver hair was almost always tied into a high pony-tail, allowing her hair to lightly brush the top of her shoulders.

She was from Inazuma, The Country of Lightning. She had used to live at the capital, Rai, but when she had sacrificed her team to Jashin, she was due to be executed. Her comrades had found out the hard that she was immortal.

Hades was the last member to join Dawn and was placed into Team Shi with Kaige, thus how they became partners.

Dawn had recruited her after hearing about her through a string of grape vines that had littered across the nations. Immortality was many people's dream, and Hades was the key to it. Having her in the criminal group would give them a huge advantage if there was to be any attacks from...that person.

Now here she was, showing her new roommate how her rituals worked.

"Okay, after I light all the candles..." Hades reached behind her to pick up her discarded weapon. "I use my katana to get the blood flowing if you know what I mean." she seemed to cackle when she cut herself with the sharp weapon.

Moaning, she tipped her head back as she bit her lip. "That's what I love." Seeming to like what was happening so far, the silver furred kitten with the thistle eyes began to jump from side to side.

"Let me join, bitch! Let me join!" Hidan said, despite the fact the young woman couldn't understand him. He just couldn't contain himself after he saw her blood and the pleasure on her face. It just reminded him how much he loved performing the rituals.

As if reading his mind, Hades smirked. "You want in you, little shit?" she snorted, "Too bad, I can't inflict pain on you or Phoenix will have my ass. So just sit and watch."

"Damn..." Hidan muttered, before realizing she had insulted him, "Oi bitch, don't call me names! Fuck you!"

Confused at the sudden hissing, Hades stopped herself from continuing on to the next step of her ritual. "Look, I don't know what's wrong but if you don't shut the hell up I'm going to lock you in my closet." she warned before promptly stabbing her thigh.

She cursed a little before removing her now bloodied weapon, flicking the dripping blood off and making splatter across the room. A few drops managed to land on Hidan, making him smile smugly before licking them. "Oi! Don't do that, just leave it until I'm done with my ritual." With a huff, Hidan stopped licking and continued to watch in silence as Hades made the Jashin symbol before sitting in it to start praying to Lord Jashin.

A few minutes had gone by and Hidan finally realized why Kakuzu hated when he performed rituals while on missions.

They were fucking boring if you weren't the one performing them.

"Jashin damn it..." he groaned, lying down on the cold floor. His silver fur was hardened in the few spots where Hades' blood got on it. He so desperately wanted to lick it off, wandering what the drops tasted like, but the damn woman told him not to.

Honestly he was only listening because he didn't want to be locked in a closet. For all he knew it would be filled with corpses, and as much as Hidan liked making them; he didn't like the stench they gave off.

"Twenty more minutes..." Hades whispered lowly to the impatient kitten.

Grunting, Hidan got up and began to wander around the room. When he first entered the room, the first thing he noticed was the blood that stained the walls and floors.

Jashin symbols were marked everywhere, made from Hades' blood no doubt. In his opinion, the room kind of resembled the one he had back at the Akatsuki base. In short: it looked pretty damn good.

One of the big differences though had to be that one whole wall was covered with bookcases that were filled to the top with books. Some were tattered and some looked like they were brand new. "Don't tell me this bitch is...smart?"

Hidan could practically hear the internal screaming that was taking place inside his head. This was quite the revelation, but it was also an assumption. Hidan actually really hoped this girl's IQ was as small as his or smaller even.

Not that he was trying to insult himself.

The silver-furred kitten gagged a little when he spotted the red glasses sitting on the desk in the room. "Jashin no." One explicit thought about Hades' in those glasses made

Hidan change his mind in a snap. "...heh, fuck. Never mind."

"Ten minutes..." came Hades' hushed voice from where she sat in the middle of the room. Hidan gave her a glance before he made his way to her bed. It was big enough for two, and Hidan secretly hoped that was an invitation instead of an indirect way of saying she moved a lot in her sleep.

With one leap, Hidan managed to find himself on top of the bed. He laughed to himself when his paws sunk in some. "Nice!" he said, approving of the soft mattress. "I could get used to this!" Hidan then laid down on the black sheets, looking around the room.

In one of the corners, lots of dented and damaged armor sat. Some were covered in blood and others had dents and places where something looked to have cut through. Looking back at Hades on the floor, he finally noticed the small chest plate she wore, along with the ones on her lower arms and shoulders. They didn't cover much, but it was probably something she liked to wear anyway.

The male Jashinist found it pretty amusing how he actually preferred to be dressed in less and the girl that looked like a female version of himself preferred to wear unnecessary things.

Ironic you could say.

"Fucking done!" Hades said, jumping up onto her feet and stretching her spine. The young woman had been hunching over while praying to her god; something she found a habit of doing. "Hey, where are you- Oh." she said, finding Hidan on her bed.

With a sigh, Hades looked around her messy room. "Well I guess I'll clean up before that wench complains again..."Hidan's eyes widened. She was actually going to listen to the orders Miss Stitch-face gave her? That was actually the complete opposite of what he would do when Kakuzu ordered him around.

Was her attitude from before just a mask? Or was she just doing it to not get anymore lip from the masked woman? It was all a mystery to him.

Walking to her closet, Hades cursed Kaige a thousand times. She hated cleaning , but knew that Kaige would through a fit if she found the room a mess. Hades always thought

Kaige was a hypocrite like that, considering Kaige also hated cleaning, and never bothered with it herself. She just added that to her 'Reasons I hate Kaige' list.

Hades pulled out a mop from her closet, along with a bucket of water in courtesy of Kismet. The girl always made sure there was cleaning material in everyone's rooms. Even if the occupants didn't even touch them.

"This sucks like hell!" the woman cursed, scrubbing the blood off of the floor and walls. She had to put more effort into the older blood stains, cursing louder as she did so.

Watching from the bed, Hidan snickered. It was amusing to watch someone slave over something so much. Hades really looked worn out and pissed off, and she just mopping up blood.

His snicker didn't go unnoticed however and Hades flicked him off for it. "Shut up you pussy. Be lucky you're not the one doing this," A smirk suddenly appeared on her face, "Besides, you'll be in this mops place soon enough."

Confused at the statement, Hidan shrugged it off, labeling it as smart-people talk.

After cleaning up most of the blood, Hades tossed the dirtied mop outside of her room for Kismet or someone to pick up. She definitely wasn't in the mood to be any more generous than she was already being.

"Fucking mortals." She cursed, wiping her wet hands on her red skirt. "My fingers are all fucked up and pruny now." She pouted, scowling down at the small limbs.

"What an amusing bitch." Hidan chuckled to himself, finding Hades' sorrows more amusing than anything.

Hearing the noise that the kitten on her bed made, Hades glared at the feline as she marched over to him. "So it's funny, eh? We'll see what so funny when I wash your little shit self." With that, Hades picked up the sadistic kitten, taking him to where the bucket of water was.

The water was cold and no longer warm from where Kismet first filled it up, but that just made it so the kitten could suffer more. Hades smirked at the horror stricken look on the small animal's face. "What? You don't like baths? Well too fucking bad."

The next thing Hidan knew, he was being dunked in a bucket full of cold, dirty mop water. And at that moment he didn't care if she was a follower of his lord. He was going to sacrifice her ass.

Hades cackled as she scrubbed at the blood spot on Hidan, "Man, they're really don't want to be was-"

POOF!

The woman was interrupted as the kitten in her hands poofed into smoke, clouding her vision. She retracted her hands in time to here the wooden bucket she was using break, allowing water to litter her floor.

When she felt the water soak into her clothes, she cursed in between coughs. "Jashin-damn it!"


	4. Chapter 4

Adopted on 4/15/14 from **MaskedBeauty09**.

* * *

AT DAWN

* * *

|| Chapter Four ||

* * *

_Naruto_ © Masashi Kishimoto

_Phoenix, Malice, Kai, Zella, Delora, Salem, Kismet, Isis, Kaige, Hades_ © MaskedBeauty09

_Naminé_ © Razzella

* * *

"Look what you did you little shit!" Hades fussed, still upset about being soaked.

To her surprise, someone replied. "Shut the fuck up! You're the one who put me in the water!"

The girl's head snapped up and she instinctively reached for the small dagger she kept strapped to her waist. "Who the fuck are you!?" she shouted as her red eyes met light purple ones. Before the stranger in front of her could answer Hades flicked her dagger at him, successfully lodging it into his throat.

The man stumbled but didn't do anything other than that, causing Hades' eyes to widen. 'What the hell!? He's supposed to be dead! Unless...'

"What was that for, bitch!?" the silver-haired man exclaimed as he tore the sharp weapon out of his throat, "That really hurts like shit you know!"

'Is this bastard immortal too!?' Hades inwardly thought as she grabbed her katana, quickly cutting off the potty-mouth man's head. "That was easy." she stated, almost confused. When Phoenix had mentioned that the kittens could be the enemy in disguise she'd thought that they must have been pretty tough...

"Oi! You just caught me off guard!"

"Tch, what did you expect me to do!? Listen to you explain yourself?!"

"Well yeah!"

"Like hell I'd do that! Why would I listen to some Jashin-damn man who appeared out of nowhere naked?!"

"Would you stop questioning all this shit!? I didn't know I was going to turn back when you put me in that fucking cold water! Do you want to die!?"

"Do you!?" Hades asked right back.

The man only smirked, "I can't die, bitch. Can't you tell?"

"Well there's your answer. I can't die, bitch." the woman replied smugly at the head. Apparently it was normal to talk to a bodiless head. "Now," she said, picking up the head so it was at eye-level with her. "Who. Are. You."

Spitting in her face, the man replied, "And why the fuck should I tell you?"

Narrowing her eyes and growling, Hades threw the head at the stone wall. "Because I said so!"

"OW! THAT FUCKING HURT! Do all women say that shit!? Jashin!"

"Just tell me your name and I'll tell you mine." Hades tried to negotiate, picking up the headless body before walking over to the most-likely bruised head.

After a few moments of glaring, he answered, "Hidan."

"Hades." As soon as the introduction started, it ended with Hades roughly picking up Hidan's head and her walking out of her room.

"Where the hell are we going?! Can't you just put my head back on my body first!?"

"Why? So you can go and inform your dumbass buddies of your failure?"

"I DIDN'T KNOW THAT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!? Besides, it was that black-headed bitch's fault! She's the one that brought us in here!"

Slamming his head against the wall, Hades continued walking, "Che, whatever. We'll see."

"Would you stop doing th-" Before he could finish Hades slammed his head against the wall again. "Jashin!" Hidan yelled, baring his teeth at the girl, "And what the hell does 'we'll see' me-"

SLAM.

"STOP THAT!"

Ignoring him, Hades stopped outside of a room. She kicked at the door, seeing as her hands were a little full. "Hey! Open up!" she yelled, kicking the door continuously. "Kaige, I know you're in there! You wouldn't go to sleep without counting your piece of shit coins!"

The moment Hades insulted the stitched woman's coins, the door slammed open, an irritated brunette looking slightly down at Hades. "What could you possibly wa- What the hell is that!?" Kaige interrupted herself upon seeing the body slung over her partner's shoulder and the head in her hand.

"This." Hades said, shaking Hidan's head in front of Kaige's face, "Is why I needed you."

"Is that?"

When Hades nodded, Kaige's eyes narrowed before she promptly stomped back into her office, picking up the brown kitten roughly by the scruff of his neck.

Ignoring his hissing, Kaige walked back to the doorway. "I'll go inform Leader. You go tell the others." Kaige gave one last glare at Hidan who was smirking at the hissing cat in her arms before left down the hallway.

"What the fuck are you smirking at?" Hades asked, annoyed. She didn't like being underestimated just because she was a woman.

She was S-Rank for a reason after all.

"That stupid pussy back there." Hidan replied, still smirking at the thought of the irritated Kakuzu.

"You won't be smirking for long you asshole." the woman mumbled, walking into Kaige's office and throwing down Hidan's body non to gently. "Oi! Don't hurt the merchandise!" Hades gave the man a look before dropping his head beside the body.

"What? You think you're gonna get the fucking VIP treatment!? You obviously don't know who you're messing with!" she ranted, pulling out the dagger that was in Hidan's neck earlier.

Hidan was now glaring right back at Hades, equally annoyed. "You don't know who you're messing with either! You just caught me off guard!"

"Whatever," Hades spit, slicing her blade through the male Jashinist's hands and feet. "Just shut the fuck up."

"Hey! What did you just do to my fucking hands and feet?"

"What did it look like you dumbass!? I'm just making sure you can't control them!"

"How the fuck can I do that!? My head's not even attached to my damn body!"

"Shut up and don't think about it!" the woman snarled, scattering the limbs she had cut off across the room to be safe. "Now stay put and don't go anywhere." she ordered, walking out of the room so she could shut the door.

"How am I supposed to move anyway!?" Hidan yelled back right when the door was slammed shut.

* * *

"Are you sure?" Phoenix asked, her eyes narrowed whilst she talked to Kaige outside of her room. Her eyes trailed down to the brown kitten that Kaige was holding by the scruff of his neck. It didn't look too happy about it, but then again Phoenix wasn't exactly ecstatic about being woken up in the middle of the night.

Kaige had woken her up by pounding the wall where her door was supposed to be. The orange-haired woman remembered thinking to herself that whatever her member needed was probably important if they were waking her up for it. And sure enough it was.

"Yes, Leader." Kaige replied, nodding her head and shaking the kitten in her grasp a little. "Hades just told me."

"...Hades did?" Phoenix asked, a little unsure if she was to trust Hades' words. Hades was pretty smart but she was also immature and childish at times.

Kaige sighed heavily, not really liking how she was being doubted at the moment. Did her leader really think that she'd joke about something as stupid and annoying as this? Hell, she could still be counting her money right now!

"She had proof. As in a body. Apparently one of the men are a Jashinist like her, we don't know about the others though."

"I see..." the young leader said, glaring at the kitten in Kaige's hold once again. "Take them all to the holding cells in the lower floor of the base. We'll interrogate them individually once Hades tells us how to transform them."

"Understood." Kaige replied before walking off to follow her orders. She'd have to go and tell the others about Phoenix's orders as well. While Kaige walked away, Phoenix inwardly sighed at all the nonsense that was happening around her.

Everything was going fine before Isis brought back the box of kittens. She had been working on making alliances with a few of the nations that she hadn't taken over yet. But that had to be put on hold so she could assure that the kittens weren't men sent in from her to spy on her group.

It'd be a clever move on her part because all of Dawn's bases were extremely secret but, then again this was Phoenix's younger sister we were talking about.

Malice wasn't someone to be taken lightly. She was Dawn's rival and enemy, and she wasn't to be trusted by anyone. Because currently, the young woman was a "loyal" Jōnin in Kasai, The Country of Fire, but secretly she was plotting for world domination. And that was the complete opposite of what Dawn wanted.

Phoenix and Malice were born in Mizu, The Country of Water, but during one of the wars, their family moved to Kasai. While Phoenix wore her orange hair to her shoulders, with her long bangs slight hanging over her forehead, Malice had long wavy black hair that reached her waist.

The orange-haired girl always kept her hair short, saying that way it wouldn't get in the way during missions. Malice on the other hand said that long hair made her feel powerful and like royalty. She soon found out while on an A-Rank mission with her sister how terrible the world and the occupants in it could be. She found out when her sister had tried to kill her.

"You're in my way from getting power!" Malice had cried out to her. Phoenix could understand why her sister would want to kill her. She was the best in their generation and all the attention was always on her, even when it was actually her sister who craved it. When she was fighting her sister that day, she finally realized what she had to do so no one would have to be betrayed like this again.

She'd have to cleanse the world. She'd have to bring world peace. But her sister just wouldn't have that, and would rather be in control of every single human being. So in order to start her new ambition, Phoenix had fled from the A-Rank mission in order to start Dawn.

The twenty-five year old sighed again, clearing her thoughts as she turned to enter her room. She also had a pest to take to the lower floor of the base after all.

"Are you serious, un!?" Delora exclaimed to her fellow members of Dawn. Currently everyone -with the exception of their leader- was outside the room where they locked up their prisoners.

"Yeah I'm fucking serious." Hades said back, as if they were trading off gossip. "The bastard just poofed into his human form when I put him in the cold ass water."

"Cold water?" Salem questioned, finding what the Jashinist was saying hard to believe.

"Are you deaf!? That's what I fucking said!" Hades seemed to pause for moment as if remembering something, "They come back naked too."

"N-naked!?" Kismet exclaimed, blushing a little at the thought of seeing a naked man. "I don't think I'm ready for this. What about you Ice?"

The raven-haired woman looked blankly towards the door that led them to the holding cells. "Hn."

Kaige rolled her eyes at the usual response, "So what do we do now?"

"Leader said to wait until she arrived. **But I think we should just eat them all and be done with it**." Zella answered the stitched woman.

"Enough." their Leader's voice silenced them as she walked into the room, holding an orange kitten in her hands. "Zella, do you have the supplies I asked you to put in the interrogation room?"

Zella nodded, "Bucket of cold water, towels, and torturing tools if needed." Black Zella grinned sadistically at that.

"I call dibs on the torturing!" Hades called out, eyeing the orange kitten in Phoenix's hands. It seemed to narrow its eyes at her. As if daring her to try and harm him.

"EH!? No, fuck you, un! I wanted to torture them!" Delora protested, her long bangs swishing from side-to-side.

"No, I should probably do it. I know the cheapest methods." the masked woman said, already thinking of all the money she could save.

"But we were thinking of using some of our friends for the torturing." Zella said with a small pout. Phoenix just eyed her members, wondering if she made a mistake in selecting the most insane criminals the nations had ever come across.

"Silence." the woman said, getting everyone's attention. "I will handle the torturing if it comes down to it. Hopefully our captives won't be difficult."

Phoenix held out the kitten towards Zella, "Zella, please take this one into the Interrogation Chamber. Do not do anything else, just hold onto him and await my next orders."

"Understood, Leader." the humanoid said, taking the kitten in her grasp and opening one of the other doors in the long hallway they were in.

"Hades. Report. Now."

"Yeah, yeah." the Jashinist replied, "Cold water is what gets them to transform back into humans. The effect isn't immediate though, it takes a couple seconds."

Phoenix nodded, "Anything else I should know?"

Hades tapped her chin, putting weight on one of her legs as she leaned on it. "Oh, and they turn back naked!" Kismet let out a girlish scream as she covered her inflamed face with her hands. One could mistake her for a teenaged civilian girl if it wasn't for the fact she was known across the nations as a deadly criminal.

Many of the members of Dawn were surprised when they met Kismet, expecting her to be someone much more... different.

"I see." the leader nodded. "Everyone, guard your assigned captive. Zella will be out shortly but until then keep a watch on her two charges as well." Phoenix then opened the metal door leading to the Interrogation Chamber.

* * *

"My cat's in there, un." Delora sighed, wiping her hands of imaginary dust. "That took a lot out of me, yeah!"

The thirty year old-Salem could only roll her eyes at the antics of her partner. "Maybe it's because you're out of shape."

The nineteen year old nearly bust a blood vessel as her eyes popped out. "I AM NOT OUT OF SHAPE! I'M A KUNOICHI FOR KAMI'S SAKE!"

Salem sighed again, shaking her head before looking into her assigned holding cell. She peeked through the bars, looking at the other small cage that was holding an auburn kitten. "How annoying..."

"You're telling me!" Hades complained. Her red eyes were narrowed as her lips jutted out in a pout. "I had to lug a whole fucking body down here!"

"You didn't have to carry me all at once, dumb bitch." Hidan muttered dryly from inside his cell. Hades was quick to flip him the middle finger before she sat down on the floor, crossing her legs as she leaned against Hidan's cell.

Just then Kaige walked into the room, holding her own kitten-captive by the scruff of his neck. "Hades, did you prepare a cell for me?"

"Did I have a damn choice?" The twenty-two year old retorted. The stitched woman merely stared, "No." Hades rolled her eyes before pointing at the cell beside Hidan's.

"It's that one, hag."

Kaige promptly ignored the insult but didn't forget to give the white-haired woman a steeled glare. Sometimes the forty year old woman wondered how she was ever partnered up with this... delinquent.

After locking up the brunette kitten, Kaige exited the cell before locking it. "Where are the other captives?"

"Me and Salem already have ours locked up, un." Delora explained, nodding with her head at the cells that occupied her and Salem's cats.

"Zella's kittens are sharing the cell on the other side of Delora's. They're in a separate small cage of course." The puppeteer added, her arms crossed indifferently.

Hades nodded in agreement. "Yeah, we don't know where Mermaid and Ice-cube are though."

Kaige grunted. "Well they better hurry up. Time is-"

"Money." The three other girls finished with Kaige, making the brunette scowl.

"I am not afraid to castrate you."

Hades snorted, smirking. "And how the hell are you going to do that? We don't have fucking di-"

"Hey guys!" the cheerful voice of Kismet filled the room, cutting Hades off. The thirty-two year old walked in the room with Isis a couple feet behind her, still walking down the stairs. The occupants of the room nodded in greeting before showing Kismet and Isis the two other vacant cells.

"What took you guys so fucking long?" Hades asked, rocking herself absently as she stared at the ceiling.

"They ran." Isis replied simply.

Kismet giggled, her yellow-slit eyes bright as she retailed the story of how she and Isis had to basically chase down the kittens. They would've used their ninja skills if they weren't too worried about accidentally destroying the base, so instead they had to do it civilian-style.

"I bet that was annoying, un!" Delora said, amazed at Kismet and Isis's ability. "If it had been me, I'd probably get tired and make Salem do it..."

Salem looked over at the blonde, her dull brown eyes boring into Delora's.

"Lazy."

Delora's face immediately heated as she poked out her cheeks, trying her best not to yell like a banshee. "I. AM. NOT. LAZY, UN!"

"Wow. You're pretty defensive about that shit." Hades stated, not understanding the blonde's problem. She was a ninja right? It was obvious she had to work to gain the figure and stamina she had. "It's not like you used to be some fat bimbo or somet-"

Hades was promptly kicked in the face with an even more irritated Delora. Her fists were clenched at her sides as she glared at the older girl.

The white-haired woman had a look of shock and confusion before it slowly formed into a devilish smirk. She sat up straighter, leaning towards Delora. "How was life in Chikyū before you ran off, huh?"

"Hades. Enough." Kaige said, putting a stop to Hades' teasing. The woman only snorted, watching as Salem slowly pulled Delora away.

"So how's the food at The Country of Earth, Delora?" Hades quickly mocked again before Kaige unthreaded her hand, shooting it towards Hades so she could seal her mouth.

"I said to be fucking quiet." The older woman demanded, her eyes seeming to glow at her menacing aura. Salem sighed, shaking her head. She sometimes wondered if slaughtering the vast majority of her hometown was worth this new lifestyle.

Kismet patted Delora's shoulder. "No need to be sad, Dee! I think you're beautiful~!"

The blonde shrugged off the girl's hand, glaring over at Hades who still had Kaige's hand over her mouth. "I'm not sad, yeah! I'm fucking furious!"

Isis continued to watch the noisy scene from her spot in front of her captive's cell. She was used to these kinds of things now. No matter how much she disliked the noise...

It kind of reminded her of when she was still in Kasai -The Country of Fire. There she had lived in an orphanage that was in the country's capital, Varro.

It was horrible there.

At least for her it was. She remembers that almost every day she picked on for being quiet and reserved. When she was old enough to leave, she fled the country in search of something that could make her stronger. Back then the country's Watcher wasn't a very good person, but now they upgraded to new one named Vulcan Titus.

"I wonder what's going on in there..." Kaige suddenly said, quieting down Delora. Everyone's attention then turned to the metal door that led to the Interrogation Chambers.

"It is awfully quiet..." Salem said, standing up straighter so she was leaning against her captive's cell anymore.

"So... should would bust up in there or wait like good little shits?" Hades asked, scratching her nose.

"I-I think we should wait! I'd be bad if Leader as in the middle of extracting information and we just barged in there, ruining her attempts."

"Kismet is correct." Isis said, still staring at the metal door. "It'd ruin any chances we have of getting information.

Hades scoffed, "What? Are you stupid now, Snow Queen!? We still have other captives in case you're forgetting!"

"Speaking of which, un... hasn't your captive been awfully quiet?" Delora asked, looking over Hade's shoulder and into Hidan's cell.

"Eh?!" Hades exclaimed as she herself looked into the cell. She promptly frowned at the sight. "I can't believe it! This bastard is sleeping!"

"Apparently he doesn't see us as a threat." Kaige said, narrowing her multi-colored as at Hidan's sleeping head.

"What if he's dead?" Kismet asked, biting down on her nails out of a nervous habit. "We'd really get it then!" The woman shivered at the thought of their Leader's punishments.

Brutal. They were extremely brutal.

"He's an immortal." Salem stated, noticing the rise and fall of Hidan's chest, despite the fact it wasn't attached to him. "Of course he's alive."

"I can't say I'm not annoyed that he's sleeping though." Hades mumbled, itching to slice her katana through the bastard's body again. The members of Dawn then stood in silence for a couple minutes before Hades began complaining.

"Damn, this is boring! No wonder Hidan fucking went to sleep!"

Delora yawned, slumping down to the floor in front of her assigned cell. "I hope Leader and Zella are having more fun than we are..."

* * *

"Ready, Phoenix?" Zella asked, opening a folded towel for when the orange kitten transformed.

The leader of Dawn nodded, kneeling down in front of the bucket that was filled with cold water. "Hades said the effect wasn't immediate. So be prepared. We have no idea what we are walking into."

Zella nodded, her yellow eyes narrowing as she eyed the kitten. Without another word, Phoenix dunked the kitten in the water, holding it under for a few seconds before bringing it back up for air. She allowed it to sit there in the bucket before a cloud of smoke engulfed them, causing Zella and Phoenix to quickly back away from the transforming kitten.

Zella was ready to release any spell if needed while Phoenix had her hand placed on the daggers that were hidden beneath her clothes. "You don't have to worry." A deep voice said as the smoke began to clear. "I can't do anything in this state."

Zella was the first to speak, but it was in a voice of surprise. "What?! You don't look like your kitten form at all. Strange..."

Phoenix stepped forward, holding up a hand so Zella would stay put, but still remain on guard. "And why is that?" she asked the hunched over form of a man.

"I can do no jutsus without chakra. Which this world doesn't seem to possess." As Phoenix got closer, she finally saw what Zella was talking about. The man... he didn't look anything like what he did while he was a kitten, except for maybe the odd violet eyes.

His hair was a deep red that stopped at his chin, and he looked extremely ill, what with way Phoenix could see his bones underneath his skin. Had he been healthier, she was disturbed to note he would have been very similar in appearance to her youngest sister, Naminé.

Phoenix kneeled beside the naked man, picking up the towel Zella had dropped when the kitten transformed. She wrapped it around the man's shoulders before holding a dagger to his neck. "What is this jutsu and chakra you speak of?"

Surprisingly the man was calm, not seeming scared nor bothered that his life was being threatened at the moment. "Something that exists in our world but not in yours."

He didn't even flinch when Phoenix made her dagger pierce his fair-skin. "It would be wise of you not to lie." The man almost seemed to sigh. "Who are you?"

"Who are you?" he countered. Narrowing her eyes, Phoenix used her free hand to grab her second dagger. Quickly, she slashed the object against the captive's skin, creating a slanted blood trail.

"Who. Are. You?" Phoenix asked again with more vigor.

There was silence before the man spoke. He seemed to be remembering something; like that someone wasn't here right now in order to defend his weak form...

"I... am Nagato. Leader of the Akatsuki."

"Nagato..." Phoenix tested, slowly placing back her second dagger. "What is the Akatsuki?"

"An organization with the goal of world peace." At his words, Phoenix widened her eyes. However she quickly regained herself, looking over her shoulder to see Zella's reaction. The woman was accessing Nagato with calculating eyes. It appeared that she also was surprised at hearing that Akatsuki had the same goal in mind as Dawn.

"Did Malice send you here?" Phoenix asked, her guard up to the extreme. "Are you a spy?"

"As I recall it was one of your members who brought us here. We didn't come here with free will."

That made Phoenix stay quiet a moment, running his words through his head. "Zella." she spoke, still facing Nagato.

"What, Leader?"

"Isis. Retrieve her."

"Yes. **I don't see why though, she already answered your questions**..." Zella exited the room, mumbling complaints under her breath. As soon as the door clicked shut, Phoenix stood so she could move in front of Nagato. Once in front of him, Phoenix kneeled back down her dagger still in her hand.

"Another world?" she asked, truly listening to his words. As impossible as it seemed to be from another world, it also seemed impossible for Malice to be able to come up with such lies. Especially like things such as "chakra" and "jutsu".

Malice wasn't that smart. Not smart enough to come up with new words that sounded like they made sense anyway.

Nagato continued to look down at the floor, his eyes closed. "A jutsu went wrong in our universe. Transforming us and sending us into this world."

"Continue." Phoenix said, ignoring the sound of Zella and Isis entering the world.

"I was creating the jutsu so if there was ever an emergency, the Akatsuki could use it to escape our base. The jutsu was to be triggered by a button, which I put a seal on." Nagato looked to Phoenix, silently asking if she wanted to hear more or speak to her comrades.

The woman nodded to him before he closed his eyes again. "I was working on the jutsu in a room where I had the button already installed and built. My members were given strict orders to not enter the room but... one of my members is a complete idiot."

Zella snorted but was silenced when Phoenix sent her a glare. The humanoid rolled her eyes but kept quiet as Nagato continued. "Because the jutsu was still a working process...it was only natural that it would go wrong but...I can't say I was expecting to be transported to a different world."

The orange-haired woman nodded, silently running the new information in her head. But yet something still puzzled her. "What are jutsus?"

Bringing his eyes to meet hers, Nagato replied. "They are techniques we use as ninja with our chakra." Before she could ask, Nagato answered her next question. "Chakra is what Life Force is to you."

Sighing, the woman stood. "I see. I will accept your story, only because Dawn has the same goal in mind as your Akatsuki do."

"Leader, **I brought Ice-Cube**." Isis silently glared at Zella before looking to her leader with a blank expression.

"Was there something you needed?" The young woman asked, her dark eyes glancing over to Nagato.

"Yes." Phoenix said. "I need you to show me where exactly you found the kittens. But we can deal with that later. For now, I need Salem and Kaige in here to take a look at Nagato. Zella tend to that."

Zella nodded before exiting the room.

She crouched down in front of said man and lifted up his chin so their eyes met. "Do not mistake my hospitality with kindness. You and your group will be watched until I am sure that you are to be trusted. Call it probation."

"Isis," Phoenix continued, standing back up. "Tell Kismet that she is to go and find clothes for these males. Tell her to by any size. It doesn't matter as long as they can fit it on their bodies."

"Yes, Leader." Isis slightly dipped her head in a bow before exiting the room, only for Zella to walk back in with Salem and Kaige.

"What's going on?" Kaige asked, openly looking at Nagato. The man ignored their presence, only paying attention to Phoenix.

"You and Salem are the only two members in Dawn who are experienced in the medical field. Please take a look at Nagato, as you can see why." The two women nodded, walking over to the man. Kaige grabbed his shoulder, but not too hard so she could lift him up. Salem held up his other side. "We're taking him to the Infirmary." Kaige said, not waiting for Phoenix's approval as she exited the room.

"Now what? **Please tell me there's something because I can't go back to fucking sleep now**." Zella asked her superior.

Phoenix pondered a moment before she came to a decision. "We are going to transform the rest of the members of the Akatsuki."

Zella nodded, "The only member's available right now are Delora, Isis, Hades and myself. **So who's unlucky enough to go first**?"

"I'll decide that once I go out there. I expect you to then make some renovations to each member's room in the meantime. We need to make it so each member of the Akatsuki can share a room with each of us."

"**And how the fuck am I supposed to do that, Leader**?" Leader's eyes narrowed, slightly annoyed with Black Zella's behavior, but then again she was used to it. "I'm sure you can think of something with your Earth spells."

"You're right. I probably can. **I'm not happy about it though**." With a scowl, Zella left the room to follow the orders Phoenix gave her.

With a tired sigh, Phoenix then grabbed the stack of towels and the bucket of cold water that Zella prepared. She had a lot to think about already, and now this Nagato person magically appears and makes things even more complicated.

It surprised her easily he was to cooperate. But then again he did look to weak to fight, so it was only common sense to do so.

Walking out of the Interrogation Chamber, Phoenix was greeted with silence. Isis was standing tall as she stared towards her leader. Whereas Hades and Delora were sleeping.

Phoenix ignored the two, instead turning to Isis who was at full attention. Isis looked to see the items in Phoenix's hands. "Transform?" she ask simply, knowing that was enough.

Phoenix nodded, handing Isis the stack of towels so the girl could grab one. "Zella is making changes to everyone's room so we all have space for a... roommate. I'll explain everything later at a meeting. For now let's just get this over with."

The two girls walked into the cell where Isis had placed the black cat. Closing the door behind them, Phoenix watched as Isis walked over to the small cage that was holding the animal.

"We will be changing you back now." Isis whispered to the cat. Phoenix walked up behind her and knelt down in front of the cage. "Your leader has also been transformed back. We are allowing your organization to stay here in peace. So do not resort to any violence once back to your normal form."

The black kitten stayed silent, watching them with his black eyes. Isis and Phoenix shared a look before the former slowly opened the cage so the black kitten could walk out.

Obediently, he sat down, waiting to be placed in the bucket of cold water as he began to stare down Isis. The woman stared back, her face clear of any emotion. Phoenix watched in amusement -but was smart to not show it- as Isis and the kitten stared each other down.

When it looked like Isis was about to give up, she instead picked up the kitten and dropped him in the bucket. It flinched at the contact of cold water, probably not expecting it to be that cold. After a few seconds, the three were engulfed in smoke. Unlike the first time however, Phoenix stayed calm while Isis jumped back alert.

Isis had pulled out a kunai instinctively. Before she could put away however, a hand was grabbing her wrist and pulling her towards them.

"What do you intend to do with that?" A deep voice spoke, making Isis stiffen and look up into onyx orbs. The man was strong... and beautiful. He had long black hair that had small waves from probably being held in a ponytail for so long.

"What is your name?" Phoenix stated calmly, sighing as she once again had to pick up the towel.

"Itachi Uchiha." he replied simply, his voice almost has blank as Isis'. Isis narrowed her eyes, not moving an inch as she glared up at Itachi. The man didn't seem intimidated at all as he stood before the woman stark naked.

"Itachi...I advise you to back off of me." Isis spoke, tightening her grip on her kunai. Wordlessly the man released her wrist, stepping back and accepting the towel Phoenix handed to him.

"Is it true that you are a member of the Akatsuki?" Phoenix asked, not knowing what to think of this man.

"Yes. Whatever Leader said is true." Phoenix stared at him a moment longer before glancing over at Isis who was openly showing her irritation towards the man. "Isis, watch over Itachi until Zella informs you of your room's status."

Isis nodded, turning her attention to Itachi when he spoke with a mocking tone. "You shouldn't show your emotions so easily." Instead of hurling her kunai at him like she wants, she chose to look away and ignore him. She could almost feel his smug smirk, but it shortly disappeared and he was blank-faced once again.


	5. Chapter 5

Adopted on 4/15/14 from **MaskedBeauty09**.

* * *

AT DAWN

* * *

|| Chapter Five ||

* * *

_Naruto_ © Masashi Kishimoto

_Phoenix, Malice, Kai, Zella, Delora, Salem, Kismet, Isis, Kaige, Hades_ © MaskedBeauty09

_Naminé_ © Razzella

* * *

Phoenix sat on her bed after overseeing the transformations for the rest of the small felines. She was tired and was annoyed with the way her members were behaving towards their new roommates. Naturally the members of the Akatsuki and Dawn did not get along at all. The two exceptions being Kismet and Kisame, who didn't seem to mind each other as much.

Phoenix and Nagato didn't seem to dislike each other either, but that didn't mean they were comfortable in the other's presence. The orange-haired woman glanced over to the red head that was lying down on his bed across the room.

She eyed his body, taking in how thin it was. It was a disturbing sight and Kaige had been most frustrated with it. The woman basically fumed at the man, threatening him that he better start eating and fast.

That had led to giving him a tour of Dawn's base. Kaige and Salem had purposefully left out the more secretive parts of course.

"What happened to you?" Phoenix asked a loud, her light eyes still glued to Nagato's ribcage, despite the fact it was hidden under a blanket and the clothing he now wore.

The red-haired man didn't flinch when Phoenix broke the silence. He didn't even glance her way, choosing to keep his eyes closed. "That's none of your business."

Phoenix stared blankly at him a moment before her eyes narrowed. "I'll respect your privacy now, but I have no promises for later."

Nagato stayed silent, choosing to only nod his head in acceptance. His lack of response secretly irritated her, considering she wanted to know more about him. That way she could determine if he was to be trusted or not, and that would make things a whole lot easier on her and her members.

House arrest wasn't a fun game to play.

Keeping her eyes on him, Phoenix continued. "Kaige told be that you are not to leave that bed until she can't see your bones anymore."

Nagato nodded again, his eyes closed. "Yes, she also told me that I was going to have physical exams."

The orange-haired woman bit back an amused laugh. Nagato truly sounded like he wasn't looking forward to that. She hummed, "As long as you understand that, then we have no other issues to discuss. I expect you to rest."

"Hm, yes. I've been trying to." All amusement left Phoenix's mind and body as she narrowed her eyes at the red head. She wanted to wipe the amused look off of his face; he probably felt even smugger at the way she went silent.

Instead of saying anything she sighed, deciding to ask one last question that she had been curious about since she had laid eyes on the man/kitten. "Can you deactivate your Rinnegan?"

This certain question came unexpected to the red-haired man, causing him to actually look over at her with his ringed pupils. "So our worlds do have something in common other than violence."

"So our eyes share the same name but, do they share the same qualities?"

Nagato was silent for a moment, "No. I can't deactivate it. My eyes have and always will be like this. Are yours the same?"

Phoenix hummed, closing her eyes before opening them. Instead of the usual purple, ringed pupils there were now two light golden irises. "I can change mine at will."

Nagato stared into Phoenix's eyes, taking in the new look that was before him. The leader of Dawn was certainly a beautiful woman but seeing her with golden eyes seemed to multiply that trait. "I see." Was all he said before looking away again.

Phoenix left their conversation at that, deciding it was better for her to get some much needed rest. Of course she kept her guard up, unconsciously keeping an eye on the man that was just across the room for her.

* * *

In a different room, a man and a woman were glaring at each other. The room was pitch black but they could see each other well with their ability. The dark-haired woman sat on her bed, glaring at the man that was on a bed only several feet away from hers.

The silence was broken when Isis spoke, never faltering her glowing red gaze. "You should get some sleep."

The man didn't even twitch. "I suggest the same to you."

"Are you forgetting who the prisoner here is?"

Itachi dead-panned. "I believe your leader said we were on probation.

Isis bit the inside of her cheek, not liking the fact that there was now someone in this base that could tick her nerves. Not knowing what say, she grunted at him while narrowing her eyes. Itachi took her lack of response as a victory and broke off their eye contact in favor of getting under his bed's blankets. This didn't keep Isis from glaring at him however.

He sighed, turning on his side so that Isis was forced to burn a hole in his back instead. "What is your name?" Isis raised an eyebrow at the random question.

"You already know my name."

"Not your complete name."

"Isis is my complete name." Said woman was slowly growing even more agitated. Itachi grunted, still lying on his side and facing away from the dark-eyed woman. With a sigh of her own, Isis ended the conversation with her new roommate in favor of sleep. She had been woken up in the middle of the night and is was probably almost morning if it wasn't already.

Closing her eyes, Isis began to drift to sleep.

"Interesting name."

Then her eyes snapped back open. Itachi was definitely doing this on purpose, so Isis chose to ignore his compliment and tried to go back to sleep. She could hear him turning onto his other side before she felt him staring at her. Inwardly scoffing, she turned to face him as well, wondering what he wanted.

His eyes were now dark, matching her own as they stared at each other.

Yawning, Isis' glare seemed to dissipate and she found the fatigue catching up with her. Right before she closed her eyes, she saw Itachi slowly closing his own.

* * *

"S-So um, are you comfortable?" Kismet asked, unconsciously running her fingers through her hair. She was trying her best not to look the blue man in front of her in the eye.

"Do you need any more blankets or s-something?"

Kisame chuckled in amusement as he watched his new roommate. It was hard to believe that she was considered an S-Rank criminal, then again her personality could be used as an advantage to trick enemies into thinking she was weak. She was most definitely a worthy opponent in his opinion.

"I'm okay." He answered, grinning at her and making his sharp teeth visible. Kismet's yellow-slit eyes lingered on his jaw before she quickly looked away, a hand covering her face to conceal her blush. On her pale blue skin, the light red would surely be noticeable.

"Oh, alright...So, um, should we get to know each other or?"

"We don't have to. The orange-haired woman already made us introduce ourselves...Do you want to get to know each other?" When Kismet covered her face again, Kisame knew he would be having fun rooming with her. She was really amusing and acted like a cute child when she was actually thirty two.

"Um, well y-yeah! I mean, it'd be better that way, ri-right? Because we're going to be sleeping together...OH! NO, I didn't mean it like that!" Kisame chuckled again, resting his head in his palm as he watched Kismet's movements. Not only was she cute and amusing, but she also resembled something akin to a sea creature. It made him wonder if she was also treated differently because of her appearance...

Looking at the visible part of her body, he could see beautiful scales on her sides. "Where are you from?"

Kismet perked up at the question, glad Kisame was okay with opening up with her. Truthfully he didn't find it as a problem because they were both from separate worlds. What harm could be done by exchanging personal information when there was no one they could relay it too?

"I'm actually from Mizu - The Land of Water - which is where we are now. I'm from the capital city, known as Yomi."

"Oh? Are we near Yomi? Who is the Kage?"

Kismet gave Kisame a confused look, but went ahead to answer his first question. "Um, no. The Dawn Base is near one of the Land's borders so we're alright. The capital cities are usually always in the center of the country." The blue-haired woman thought back on Kisame's second question. "And what is a Kage?"

The shark man looked at her with mild surprise. How could she not know what a Kage was? "They basically rule over the country. Watch over it you could say."

Kismet nodded in understanding, catching on quite quickly. "We call them Watchers here. Currently, Mizu is watched over by a man named Suijin Jimmu..." Her voice trailed off, signaling that she had bad memories about that certain person. "W-What about you, Kisame?"

Kisame hummed, "The village I used to live in was called Kirigakure. However I left when," an amused smirk played on his face. "I found something much more amusing."

"Oh, I'm guessing that must be the Akatsuki?"

The shark man grinned, "You guessed right, heh." Kismet smiled and looked away, instead eyeing her weapon cabinet instead. It was something new that Zella had added while she was renovating the room.

"So Kismet, why did such a sweet woman like you become a criminal?"

Kismet fidgeted and frowned as she began to twiddle her fingers. "Um, well you see... my appearance is very unusual so the scientists and medical personal in my hometown were given permission from the Watcher to..." She paused. "Dissect and experiment on me to find out my origins or information on my DNA."

Kisame listened with interest, completely understanding. He was discriminated for his appearance but no one ever tried to _explore his insides_. The humans in this world were just as sick as the ones in his own.

"I see..." Kisame hummed, lying back on his bed as he crossed his arms behind his head. Seeing his action, Kismet began to think he was tired and decided to end their conversation for the night. Hopefully he would still be willing to talk to her again tomorrow.

"Well, um- Good night, Kisame."

Kisame glanced over at her, sparring a toothy grin. "Night, Kismet."

Kismet smiled back, internally giggling at the way her insides flipped. A second later, the room was pitch black the two occupants were closing their eyes and falling asleep.

* * *

Zetsu merely watched the scene play out before him from a corner of his new room.

"Oh~ Tobi likes this plant very much!"

"**I will fucking eat you**." Zella was quick to threaten the masked man, glaring at him as she sat with her arms crossed on her bed, which was where she usually found herself sleeping when she didn't have to dehydrate.

Tobi was quick to squeak in fear, retracting his hand and scurrying to Zetsu so he could hide behind him.

Zetsu smiled with amusement, revealing his pointed teeth. "Are you alright, Tobi?"

Tobi shook his head frantically, "No! Zella is scary!"

"**Then go the fuck to bed**! I won't mess with you then." Zella replied, moving so she was under her blankets. "**There are two other beds or a reason, dumbass**. Just choose one." Tobi nodded, choosing the bed that was the farthest away from the female humanoid. Sometimes she really hated the fact that Phoenix had stolen her to join her organization of criminals.

Zella actually wasn't a criminal. At least she wasn't a known one. Kami knew she was an S-Rank - as well as all her victims that she enjoyed digesting - though.

"Hm, Zella?" This voice didn't make her irritated, so she acknowledged it normally.

"Yes, Zetsu?"

"**How old are you**?"

So maybe Zella preferred the polite and casual white-side than she did the irritating and rude bastard of the black-side. Zella's golden eyes narrowed as she sat up in her bed, glaring at the multi-colored male.

Zetsu had moved to the bed beside Zella's while Tobi took the one across the room. Instead of sleeping -like Zella really wanted her roommates to be doing so she could do the same - Zetsu was sitting up and staring at the dark green-haired woman.

"**What the fuck did you just ask me**?"

"Sorry, I was just curious."

Zella eyed him for a moment, "I don't age**, dipshit**."

Zetsu smirked playfully, "**Such vulgar language**."

"**What of it**?"

"Nothing."

"Good, now go to sleep."

Zetsu stayed quiet, continuing to watch as Zella lied back down and closed her eyes. His were the same color but yet he found that hers seemed to glow more, or was that just him?

"Who was your creator?"

"For Kami's sake!" Instead of sitting back up, Zella chose to just turn over on her side to glare at the other artificial human in the room. "I don't know, **some fucking scientist in Chikyū who wanted me to be in the land's army**." When silence filled the room, Zella inwardly sighed in relief, beginning to close her eyes to get some much needed rest.

"Do you have a favorite color?"

The black side of Zella sneered, "**Green**."

"Food?"

Her eyes opened, narrowing. "Humans. **Including the artificial ones**."

Zetsu smiled with amusement, pleased that he wouldn't be stuck with someone boring. That was probably why he could tolerate Tobi -the young man was very entertaining, especially when he annoyed the other members of the Akatsuki.

"So, why aren't you sleeping?" Zella asked, now looking up towards the stone ceiling.

"Well you see, I can't." He could have sworn Zella whimpered. "**That's why I'm hoping you can amuse me until you actually do something productive**."

"Weren't you sleeping before, when you were a kitten I mean."

"Yes, but I think that was because I was in a different body."

"**Fine, then annoy the little kid**. Not me, please."

Zetsu tilted his head slightly to the side, relishing in the obvious different in her personalities. While her white side was calmer and collected, her black side really couldn't give two flying fucks about you and was easily irritated. Not to mention her way with words.

He glanced at Tobi and then back at Zella. 'Hm, I'd rather sleep.' Zetsu then easily slipped under his bed's covers -now that he didn't have those two venus-fly trap like extensions connected to him, he had yet to figure out why they weren't on him anymore.

"Excuse me, **I thought you said you were unable to sleep**." Zella was glaring at him in annoyance, probably having heard him move around on his bed.

"I said I couldn't sleep and that was at the time. I never said I was unable to sleep at all."

Zella scoffed, turning away so her back was facing him. "**Annoying**. Unpleasant."

* * *

A wooden hand swatted Sasori's when the man attempted to touch one of the puppets in the bedroom. "Please refrain from touching my art." There was a pause as Salem's dull brown eyes met Sasori's. "Or I will kill you."

The red-haired woman's blank voice only added to the effect of her threat, although Sasori merely blinked. Although, he did retract his hand away from the wooden doll.

"Thank you." Salem nodded, returning to her work bench so she could finish cleaning her tools. It was a task she had neglected to do earlier due to a certain feline. Sasori sighed to himself quietly, glancing at his new bed and feeling a foreign emotion; fatigue.

Actually he had been feeling a lot of things since he was transformed back into a human. Meaning human. Not puppet. For some reason instead of his wooden puppet body that he had crafted for himself, Sasori was now back inside skin and bone.

It felt weird to him, considering it hadn't been in a normal human body for a long time.

The male puppet-master found his gaze returning to his thirty year old roommate. The woman looked younger than that, but then again, so did he and he was actually thirty-five.

Salem was ignoring him, choosing to only pay attention to her current task. Sasori could care less though, as he didn't really want to converse with her either. She was barely tolerable when he was a kitten so what made the difference now that he was a human?

Although it was nice to have to look down instead of up when she spoke to him.

Turning on his heel, Sasori walked over to one of the beds in the room, which he found quite odd. Shouldn't there only be one -and that being for him? Wasn't Salem a puppet; and by experience Sasori new that puppets couldn't sleep.

Salem let out a sigh, making Sasori silently glance at her. He continued to watch her as she moved to walk towards the room's extra bed. He observed her every movement, on guard just in case she would go against her leader's orders and harm him. Which he doubted she would from what he had seen of her personality so far.

Salem could feel him watching her but she paid it no mind, understanding why he would do so. She would probably do the same to anyone around her if she somehow ended up in a foreign world without any knowledge of it.

The former resident of the Land of Air -also known as Taiki- began to pull her hair back so she could tie it in a braid. It was during that moment that Salem revealed her neck and also when Sasori noticed something he hadn't before: she had skin on her body. He hadn't noticed before, but the skin was everywhere that he could see. Everywhere except her arms, which were obviously made out of wood.

Although he was confused, he kept his expression neutral. "Salem." he spoke, but the woman didn't do anything to acknowledge him. She just continued to braid her hair.

Sasori narrowed his eyes, waiting impatiently for Salem to answer. Right when he was about to repeat his summon, the woman looked over to him. "Sasori?"

"What is that on your neck?"

Salem raised a hand and ran it across her neck. "Skin."

"Why?" Sasori asked again, this time with a little more agitation.

"Because I am human after all."

Ah, that was the answer he was looking for. Albeit it only made more appear in his mind. "Human?" The question was whispered and more to himself, but Salem had heard and answered it anyway.

"Yes."

"Your arms-"

"Are artificial. I lost them in a battle with my village, Aeras. The Watcher, Hera Juno, didn't take me defecting the village very well. Of course she didn't come out unscathed either." A small smirk marred her face, but it slowly vanished and she was back to her dull expression.

Sasori nodded, assuming that the woman wouldn't want to venture any farther into the past. Every missing-nin probably had one, and all of them most likely didn't like thinking about bad memories. It was a given that Sasori actually didn't care about Salem's feelings but he really wouldn't want to be on the bad side of his roommate, who he would probably be staying with for a while.

The two puppet masters silently fixated themselves in their beds, preparing to catch up on the sleep that was so rudely taken away from them earlier that night.

* * *

"Bitch."

"Oh, just shut the fuck up, un!"

Deidara growled at his blonde roommate. "I liked it better when I was cat!"

Delora narrowed her blue eyes, "Yeah, I did too!"

"Whore!"

"Dick!"

Both blondes growled at each other, standing in the middle of Delora's renovated room. It now had more space and there were two beds, which was currently why the two artists were arguing.

"I want the one with the soft blanket, yeah!"

"No. This is my room! I deserve the soft blanket, hm!"

"Not any more, un! This is our room now, bitch!"

Delora screamed, chunking a piece of unmolded clay at him that she had grabbed from her workbench. "Stop calling me that!"

Deidara smirked, catching the clay and allowing one of his hands to consume it. "No."

Delora watched Deidara's hand carefully, watching as it shaped her clay into an exploding object. While doing so, she quietly slipped one of her hands into the knap-sack around her waist, where she kept her clay when she went on missions.

"Deidara..." The former resident of Chikyū tested, still molding her own clay into a flower just in case she would have to chunk it at her blue-eyed roomie. "What are you going to do with that?"

"Hm, this?" Deidara chuckled breathily, opening his palm to reveal a clay spider. "Depends. Are you going to let me have the bed with the soft blanket?"

Her eyes narrowed, "What if I say no?"

"Then I'll get to show you my art." A smirk lit up Delora's features, taking Deidara by surprise for a moment before he regained himself.

"Oh?" she questioned, holding a closed fist out in front of her. "Then can I show you mine, yeah?" Deidara watched nervously as the nineteen year old girl opened her palm, showing him a clay flower. He wanted to scoff but then remembered that his clay looked harmless at first too.

"I don't your leader will appreciate you blowing up the base, un." Deidara stared, smiling smugly. Maybe this would get her to back down and just let him use the goddamn soft blanket.

To his surprise, his peer only clicked her tongue, shaking her head as if she was disappointed. "Oh? But did you forget that you're on probation? Meaning that any wrong move you make will be counted against you and your teammates." Her eyes had a weird gleam to them. "If the base gets blown up, my excuse will be self-defense. What will yours be, hm?"

Damn it. She had a point.

Deidara scoffed, crushing the clay figure in his hands before tossing it at the workbench in the room. Delora smiled in victory, patting his shoulder as she walked by to get on her new bed. "I'm glad you understand."

"Hmph, whatever. Fatass."

His comment made Delora stop in her tracks. The room was deathly silent, and Deidara could have sworn the temperature dropped. He slowly looked over his shoulder at the extremely quiet Delora, praying that he would find her glaring at him. Instead she was still facing away but when he looked at her fully, she began to slowly turn, only creating more suspense.

"What did you say?" Delora finally spoke, her voice eerily calm.

Deidara gulped but quickly steeled his nerves. The girl in front of him may have been an S-Ranked kunoichi but he was also S-Ranked! "You heard me, yeah!"

"No. I didn't, un."

'I'm just digging a deeper hole for myself...' Deidara thought to himself as he tried to subtly change his expression to something more soft. Hopefully the woman couldn't tell if it was fake or not.

"Fine!" Deidara gave in. "I said that you looked beautiful, un!"

What Deidara didn't expect was for Delora's expression to change drastically. Said girl's eyes widened and her mouth was slightly agape. A blush appeared on her face, contrasting well with her eyes.

Deidara felt lost for a minute, finding his compliment true.

Delora quickly looked away, covering her face with her hands. "I-um- t-thanks, un." Quickly she went to her bed, jumping under the blankets before pulling them over her.

The male blonde continued to watch dazed as an arm popped out from the sheets, placing a hair tie on the small table near the bed. Delora had probably taken out the small pony tail she had in her hair. The shinobi shook his head before slowly going to his own bed, still a little upset that he couldn't have a soft blanket.

He fell asleep, thinking about the soft blanket and Delora's embarrassed face.

* * *

The room Kaige and Kakuzu shared was completely silent, that is with the exception if the clanking of coins hitting the wooden table and the sound of a brush gliding against a scroll.

"How many in that stack?" Kakuzu questioned, looking up from the scroll he was writing in.

The woman beside him answered immediately. "Fifty." Kaige's voice was clear instead of muffled, making Kakuzu's job easier. Unlike him, Kaige wasn't masking her face. She found it easier to focus without something covering the lower half of her face, plus she could attack her new roommate if he decided to go against orders and attack her.

Currently the two brunettes were counting the organization's money. Kaige had assigned Kakuzu in charge of recording everything while she counted and organized the golden dollars.

She didn't trust the man with her money. The multi-colored eyes man merely sighed at her decision. Her reasoning was obvious enough, as he would probably do the same. At least the two weren't fighting. That was all that really mattered to them.

"So all together that makes..."

"Over one-thousand coins." Kaige finished, nodding her head and turning to look at the stitched man. "This is good, as it will be enough to buy more supplies, which we need considering we have new... guests."

Kakuzu narrowed his eyes before agreeing, not taking offense to what she said. "New clothing would also be nice."

The former resident of Mizu thought the suggestion over for a moment before she nodded her head with a sigh. "I'd rather not, but it is necessary."

"Some people don't like to wear thin and torn clothes."

Kaige closed her eyes, clenching her teeth. She was forty years of age but she still found most things annoying; you'd think she'd grow out of it. "Yes." the woman uttered out. "I suppose that's true."

Kakuzu grunted, handing her the scroll that he had wrote down all of Dawn's financial information in. Surprisingly he had even wrote down notes on saving money and good ways to dispute it if needed.

Maybe the old man wasn't so useless. Kaige smirked, watching as Kakuzu stood up and moved to his bed, more eager to sleep than stay up any longer.

He hit the bed without as much as a good night, which didn't bother Kaige in the least. Instead she snorted, pulling her hair back in a small pony tail as she set to work putting Dawn's money back in her safe. She treated each stack carefully, being sure not to mess it up or cause any to fall from their positions.

After all the money was put back neatly into the safe, Kaige locked the contraption, being sure to put a spell on it just in case someone dared to break into it. If someone even attempted they'd be lit aflame. Something Kaige thought was a suitable punishment for anyone trying to steal her precious coins.

The scroll Kakuzu had handed her was also locked into the safe. Thinking of it, Kaige remembered something and brought out a new scroll so she could write down a list of things that they needed to get as soon as possible.

She clicked her tongue at the thought, upset that the new arrivals were causing her to pull out more money than she usually had to.

It was a crime really.

With another frustrated sound, Kaige quickly finished up the list and rolled up the scroll. She kept it on her desk so she wouldn't forget about it later when she woke up again.

"Damn brats." Kaige yawned, crawling under her covers.

* * *

"What do you think you're staring at!?" Hades yelled, punching her new roommate in the face.

Hidan's head whipped back from the punch before he quickly recovered and growled at the red eyed woman. "Bitch! You're nice fucking rack, that's what!"

That earned him another punch. The male Jashinist began to shake with anger, struggling to get out of his bonds. His actions proved futile, as Hades had casted a spell on the ropes that tied him to the bed. "Why the hell am I tied to the bed anyway!? I'm not up to sleeping with whore like you ya' know!"

"Oi! Fuck yourself you bastard! You're only tied because I don't want to wake up with my body scattered across my room!"

Hidan smirked, "Oh, are you afraid of me?"

The woman scoffed, sitting down on her bed across from Hidan's. She let down her hair, placing her hair tie on the table between the beds. "You're the loser who should be scared, Hidan." She ran her fingers through her hair, loosening it out.

Hidan watched the movement, wondering how soft her hair was for a second before he snapped back from the trance. "Hey! Stop putting spells on me! I don't want to be thinking about weird shit like that!"

Hades looked at him oddly, sneering as she crossed her arms. "I didn't put any fucking spell on you. So shut the hell up and go to sleep!"

A twitch was evident on Hidan's face as he growled once more at his roommate. "I can't! It's not comfortable to sleep like this!"

"Oh c'mon. Don't tell me you haven't done kinky shit like this before in bed?" At Hidan's sudden silence, Hades raised her eyebrows. "You haven't?"

Hidan looked away with a blush on his face; much to his aggravation. "I refuse to touch a woman who doesn't believe in Jashin-sama!"

Hades snorted, shaking her head with a smirk on her face. "It's hard to believe someone as fucking perverted as you hasn't gotten any."

"What!?" Hidan exclaimed, snapping his head to look at Hades. His eyes narrowed, "How do you know if I haven't gotten laid!?"

"Because I doubt you've ever met any other believers of Jashin. They're hard as fuck to come by. I've only met two in my life, one being you."

Hidan muttered something under his breath, his face heating up again. "Well, whatever! So what if I'm a virgin?! Who gives a damn?! Now untie me so I can go to sleep!" The woman sighed in thought for a moment. After a minute of silence she finally stood up and opened the drawer of the table between the two beds. Inside was a small dagger, which she grabbed and used to cut Hidan's bonds.

At the same time she released the spell on the knots, making it easier for her to cut through the rope. "There." Hades said, pointing the dagger at Hidan who was rubbing his wrists. "But I swear if I wake up to see you over me with your goddamn scythe, I will cut your dick off."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. Just fucking thanks." Hidan mumbled, moving on to rub his ankles from where they had been tied also.

"Now go to sleep." Hades returned the dagger to its place, put a spell on the drawer so Hidan wouldn't get any ideas.

Climbing into her covers, Hades looked to Hidan when he spoke, looking at her lewdly. "Will you sleep with me?"

She scoffed, turning on her side so she couldn't see him. "I am, just in a different bed you moron."

"Your fucking loss." Hidan sighed, getting under his blankets as well.

Hades rolled her eyes, wondering how she got along so well with this idiot when he was a cat.


	6. Chapter 6

This is my first original content added to the story, so please be gentle. It's mostly just a way for me to split everyone up because working with ten plus people is hard to do.

And I'm kinda lazy.

I:

Enjoy!

- Razz

* * *

AT DAWN

* * *

|| Chapter Six ||

* * *

_Naruto_ © Masashi Kishimoto

_Phoenix, Malice, Kai, Zella, Delora, Salem, Kismet, Isis, Kaige, Hades_ © MaskedBeauty09

_Naminé_ © Razzella

* * *

_We've found you again. – N._

Phoenix sighed, rubbing her face with something akin to frustration marring her usually relaxed features. Zella was standing off to one side with obvious curiosity painted on her features, despite having been the one to deliver the message. The Dawn members – excluding Delora, Kismet, and Hades – sat in the meeting room with their typical blank expressions.

"We're going to scatter again." Phoenix finally spoke, watching as a brief flicker of unease passed through her members. They had been together for the past three months in the Mizu base after a three year split; h-aving just finally gotten comfortable, they were going to be tossed to their own devices yet again.

It pained Phoenix in a way she generally didn't acknowledge that she had no choice but to throw her girls out, but they didn't have any choice. If Malice was pushing for her capture – and most likely execution – they needed to flee. Even being the most talented ninja across the world couldn't save them – _all_ of them, anyway – from an army as large as Kasais', and Phoenix had no doubt that if anyone could manage to bring an army down on them it would be Malice.

"Why? We should be safe within the boundaries of Mizu, right? **Or did someone fuck up and give away our location?**" Zella spoke up from the corner of the room and their orange-haired leader gave them all a long once over. The team leaders each fidgeted slightly, and she found herself feeling wistful. If she could manage to find a safe place they wouldn't be forced to run around like cowards every time one of the nation's eyes landed on them.

"We can't take the risk against Kasai. Our location was compromised, and if it comes to the attention of Mizu as well it could escalate into a situation out of our control." Her fingers formed a bridge in front of her face as she thought, closing her ringed eyes momentarily.

"So we will all be separated for another three years?" Isis finally spoke up and the leader nodded shortly.

"At the end of three years, we will meet again at the base in Inazuma." There was another moment of silence before more questions came pouring out; one she was particularly troubled with being the first.

"What of the Akatsuki?" Salem questioned, apparently bored with the conversation. Of course, between the more level-headed members things like this could go over easy. After all, she was about to sign their death warrant. They couldn't very well let the group go free with so many shocking similarities; it was disturbing to imagine they may have similar abilities. *+-

She had promised them sanctuary, and yet she was going to order their death the very next day. Quite a disgraceful decision, but she was more concerned with her own members than the strangers that resembled them.

"I think we should keep them." Kaige spoke before their young leader could; she received startled expressions in response. Well, as startled as the calmer women could manage. "After all, we travel in pairs; two of us could easily outmaneuver two of them in their current states."

"They would be dead weight." Isis argued easily, training her red eyes on the elder woman. "If what they say is true, they are useless. That is _if_ they are being honest; if they are lying, they could be a threat to our wellbeing."

"Not only that, but would they allow themselves to be split up? I doubt they trust us enough to go gallivanting off with us." Salem added, glancing at the woman.

"Not to mention, there are more of them than us. **And their damn leaders fucking bedridden. **So that would leave us with three rather than two, Leader-sama." Zella spoke to the orange-haired female directly rather than take to bickering with the members of their organization.

"We could promise them help in returning to their own home." Kaige, having her own mystical run-ins in her life, was surprisingly keener on assisting them. Believing them seemed easy enough for her, despite the others suspicion. "It wouldn't be difficult to subdue them if we separated them." She insisted, knowing that their peace-loving leader was going to agree with her, but providing ammunition to back up her decision.

"We could teach them if we deemed them trustworthy." Salem commented, apparently neutral as she weighed the pros and cons of both sides. "And perhaps we could convince them to assist us in our endeavors against the nations."

Phoenix stared at the four other females in the room, gauging their expressions thoughtfully. Honestly, she was keen on speaking to Delora about such things as this, but the female had opted to stand guard instead. She hated taking part in the "stupid planning sessions (un)" and had voiced as much in the beginning. However, being the most senior member of the organization besides Zella and herself, she desperately wished the young girl would have opted to join in the proceedings.

"We will discuss the possibility of a temporary alliance before vetoing their lives." She finally spoke, and noted that Isis looked mildly disgruntled for a moment. "We will omit this part of the meeting," She continued, glancing at Zella. "Gather everyone else – Akatsuki members included, please."

The female nodded before phasing through the wall; leaving the other women to stare at each other silently until she returned through the door with the mob of people behind her. Itachi was assisting Nagato, who looked mildly frustrated at being moved before he was sat in Deloras' seat – closest to her on the left.

"Unfortunately, it has come to my attention that we will be forced to separate once again."

"What the fuck? Why, (un)?!" Delora and Hades spoke in sync, looking equally angered at the idea; their respective partners closed their eyes with slight sighs. It was clear that the oldest and youngest members were fond of each other – if in the most strange of ways – and the fact they were rarely allowed time together obviously wore on their already poor tempers.

"Kasai has discovered our location." That was enough to appease the two hot-heads, who stood alongside each other seething quietly. Kismet shifted on her feet, obviously uncomfortable with the idea as well, though the older woman was polite enough not to say so. The life of a missing-nin was difficult in their world if they didn't band together; particularly for women. That was the main reason Phoenix had assigned teams to begin with, though she refused to call it 'the buddy system'.

"So… what does that mean for the Akatsuki, then?" Kismet finally asked – softly, and Phoenix ignored the fact that she glanced at the large male who was so similar to herself in appearance – and said Akatsuki tensed.

"It would be preferred if they would agree to split with us." Phoenix hedged, though she saw the fish-like females' eyes light with understanding, as well as Deloras' uncomfortable shift and Hades soft snort. It appeared as though most of the Akatsuki did not realize the implications of her words, though she felt Nagatos' sharp look.

"And if we don't?" His voice was calm – collected; controlled – and Phoenix found she couldn't look at him for some reason.

"If you refuse it would be… unbeneficial for you. Your agreement means we will assist in returning you to your own homes; each team will teach you how to defend yourself once you have been deemed trustworthy." Phoenix felt like she was trying to bargain for their lives; it felt strange.

"I say we just fuckin' kill them." Hades piped up and the room was suddenly tense; their orange haired leader resisted the urge to facepalm.

"We can't just kill them, Hades." Delora – to Phoenixs' shock – shot back, glaring at the silver haired female with mild irritation.

"Why the fuck not? They're just deadweight." Isis gave Phoenix a pointed look that was promptly ignored.

The silver haired girl seemed genuinely confused that her usual partner in crime was refusing to agree on the subject of executing someone and those watching wondered if it had anything to do with their fight the day before. It was unlikely, considering they fought almost as much as Hades and Kaige did, and yet somehow still remained close. Phoenix personally believed it was because they both had trouble taking things seriously.

"B-Because they're people!" Everyone caught sight of the slight pink dusting her cheeks, though Hades was the only one willing to mock the blond bomber.

"Seriously, Dee, did you just _have _to go and fuck your cat?" The woman rolled her crimson eyes and Delora hissed softly; her hand curling into a fist as she resisted the urge to toss a few thousand bombs at the other female.

"It's not like that and you damn well know it, Hades, yeah! We don't kill just to kill, un." The blond reminded, her verbal tick becoming more frequent as her temper flared.

"No, we just bomb entire fucking countries for the highest bidder, right?" The silver haired female jeered and Phoenix's eyes narrowed in warning.

"Enough." The woman snapped coolly, glancing at Nagato. The male appeared deep in thought and she easily beat down her feelings of guilt. Sacrifices needed to be made; they needed to escape the area and the most beneficial way to do so was to separate. If he was willing to risk all of their lives then he was a fool. Unfortunately, their conversation was interrupted by a rather loud explosion; immediately everyone's attention was turned to Delora.

"I didn't do it, un!" She tossed her hands up in exasperation as another went off and instantly the Dawn and Akatsuki members were on the defensive.

"Out. Now. We'll meet in Inazuma in one month. Teams of three; check in the moment you reach safety. Zella, take Nagato, Zetsu, and Tobi; you will await us in Inazuma. I'm right behind you." The multi-colored woman nodded before grabbing two of the three males – Zetsu and Nagato respectively – before being pounced by Tobi and phasing into the wall.

Immediately, the Dawn members snatched their respective counterparts – some more forcefully than others – and forming their three man squads. Isis quickly checked to make sure Delora and Hades were with her before they bolted with males in tow; Salem following the same procedure by Kismet and Kaige before taking off in the opposite directions. It was not often they used their three-man cells; for them to be doing so meant that Phoenix must have foreseen a very dangerous enemy coming down on them.

_Naminé and Malice. _

Both team leaders shared this thought before slipping into the tunnels beneath their base; vanishing into the night.

* * *

Phoenix remained seated as her base was blown to pieces, and she sent out her life force with little effort. It took only moments before she located Malice and Naminé, and she felt a smile threatening her lips. Both her elder sister and younger fighting so hard to find her and bring her down. It should have been unnerving, but all she felt was amusement that both females always got _so close _before having it thrown in their faces.

The door to the meeting room was blasted open and there stood Naminé; her blood-red hair pulled into a bun as she held a kunai loosely in her fingertips. Phoenix smirked at the female as Malice followed quickly behind; her Sharingan spinning dangerously before the pierced woman waved her hand as though in greeting, and vanished in a puff of smoke.

A frustrated screech filled the half-demolished base as Phoenix's laugh echoed through the tunnels below it before she, too, faded into the night.

* * *

"What the fuck?" Hidan barked as they were quite literally dragged out of the tunnels and into the night air. The mist was thick; hiding them easily despite being a mile from the base. Isis turned her red eyes on him in obvious irritation before Delora finished forming her dragon. The small creature expanded upon landing and the blond glanced at the pair of women she was teamed with; ignoring the three males who were all glaring at them.

"I'm not getting on that thing." Isis said bluntly and Delora's eyebrow twitched slightly.

"I'm not going to blow us all up." The blond shot back as Hades snickered. "Isis is afraid of fucking heights. How damn adorable." Isis then twitched as she watched both her teammates hop onto the larger clay beast.

"I am not afraid." Her eyes narrowed into a glare as the two females snickered, gesturing for their counterparts to join them on the creation.

"I'm not fucking getting on that." Hidan said simply, crossing his arms over his chest as both Itachi and Deidara obeyed rather quietly. It was probably their danger instincts kicking in, but it was quite obvious which of the group of six lacked those.

"Yes, you fucking are." Hades responded instantly, glaring at the male so painfully similar to herself. She stood on the dragons tail as her hands came to her hips; giving him a dangerous look. The immortal either didn't notice or didn't care when her killer intent spiked; her scythe easily taking off his head before she dragged the cursing appendages body onto the snickering blondes' clay sculpture.

She carried Hidans head by his hair, ignoring his irritated cursing as Isis – having lost her only backup – finally agreed and joined the rest of her team on the sculpture. Delora and Hades – as well as their counterparts, though they appeared more subdued than the females – snickered as the dark-haired female gripped the clay with both hands and feet; clinging much like a terrified cat would.

"I thought you weren't afraid?" Hades teased, It appeared as though the Akatsuki members – excluding the dismantled Hidan – were also having issues keeping their footing, prompting the two not-terrified members of Dawn to offer them stability by gripping their the wrists.

"I'm not keen on falling off." Isis clarified, tensing as the bird dipped slightly. The ride was relatively silent until they dropped into the nearby town just in the borders of Chikyū. Hades had contacted Phoenix the moment they took to the air and told her that they had all made it outside of Mizu. Hidan was snoring loudly by the time they landed and Hades had the courtesy of putting him together.

Finding a tavern was just as easy – the problem lay in trying to keep themselves hidden from the people searching the area for missing-nin. Like themselves.

"Hades, go get us a room." Isis ordered and said female Jashinist twitched slightly, narrowing her crimson eyes with a scoff. However, she resisted commenting as she pulled her hair from its high ponytail, letting the silver locks flow down her back loosely. Running her fingers through it several times, it gained some volume; she brushed herself out some bangs. Hades quickly shed her cloak, revealing her black shinobi attire and long boots. A quick jutsu shifted her crimson eyes to a dark brown, and her hair brightened to a platinum blond. Her shirt was skin-tight, and short-sleeved before she made her way into the tavern, appearing drastically different despite her minor changes.

"Hi," Hades spoke cheerfully to the bartender, flashing her most charming smile. "I need three rooms, if you don't mind." He gave her a once over – and yes, she did notice him eyeing her chest that she had put directly in his line of vision – and she tried not to let her eyebrow twitch.

"I have two." He spoke gruffly, and she locked her jaw. Weren't they not supposed to drink while working or something? Cue a pout.

"Awh, really?" Hades cursed Isis for this as she leaned onto the bar, propping up her cheek with her best puppy eyes. Just because she was good at getting her way, did not qualify her to seduce old, stinky drunks that had nothing better to do than hang out with other old, stinky drunks and ogle the young women unfortunate enough to wander in here.

"Yes." He responded brusquely and she sighed, genuinely distressed by this. "I'll take it, thanks." Dropping a handful of coins – and praying Kaige never heard of this – she took the room keys and made her way to one of the rooms. She was joined shortly by the other Dawn members and she handed off one of the keys.

"I could only get two. Fucking bullshit." She sighed as her appearance returned to normal, a scowl marring her lovely features. Isis nodded, eternally calm as Delora smirked in her direction.

"Well," Dee spoke thoughtfully, snickering. "It looks like we're just gonna have to split into threes, un."

* * *

Salem was glad she didn't have to deal with the younger members; she only felt mildly guilty about it. Kismet had taken her place alongside the puppeteer and Kaige had been more than happy to take the other along with their counterparts – who were all enjoyably silent, thank the Gods – during their escape.

It hadn't taken long for them to cross the border with Kaiges teleportation technique – because Lord knows they couldn't carry these men, much less drag them – and they were now settling down in Chikyū for the night. The Earth country was massive, and there were quite a few forests that were easy enough to find a hiding place in.

"We have a month to meet up with the others." Kismet spoke after a moment in her usual soft way as they sat in a circle around the fire, running her fingers through her hair.

"So Phoenix said." Salem said, with a slightly mocking tone, as she closed her eyes; Kaige rolled her eyes at the thoughtful woman. "I can sense the brats life force not too far from here – should we situate into our usual partners?"

"We were ordered into teams of three." Kaige reminded, glancing at the red-head. She knew the female was attached to her partner – probably the closest of their teams, outside of Kismet and Isis – and it made sense that she would desire her companionship.

"Why aren't you travelling in pairs?" Kisame spoke up on behalf of the mildly confused Akatsuki members and Kismet smiled a bit sheepishly.

"Well, we usually do, but Phoenix designed teams of three for us so that if she decided the danger level was high, we would have the extra power."

"And it makes more sense, actually," Salem said after the blue woman finished, shrugging. "Teams are split into three in other villages, so us forming teams of three just fits the mold better." Kaige, meanwhile, was busy contacting their leader to inform her they were all safe from the threat; getting a slight wave from Hades as she beamed into the room.

"We're staying at an inn at the border." Hades said simply, shrugging her shoulders. "We have also made camp at the border." Kaige said easily, going on to explain that they were safe and the Akatsuki was with them. Nagato was in the corner of the room as they discussed, though he was surprisingly quiet.

"I'll see you in one month." Phoenix finally said, sighing softly.

"Stay safe."


End file.
